Role of Mutual Health Schemes in Shaping Household Financial Accessibility among Low-Income Households in Kirinyaga County, Kenya

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dc.contributor.authorNdambiri, Timothy Munyua
dc.date.accessioned2021-02-01T08:26:24Z
dc.date.available2021-02-01T08:26:24Z
dc.date.issued2020-03
dc.descriptionA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science (Health Management) in the School of Public Health and Applied Human Sciences of Kenyatta University, March, 2020en_US
dc.description.abstractMutual health schemes are emerging as an important cornerstone in healthcare financing in Kirinyaga County, where they are providing a patchwork of protection to low-income groups faced by low financial access to healthcare. While the schemes continue to gain ground, the extent to which they are improving health care utilization remains unclear because of weak evidence. Only a handful number of inquiries have been conducted, a paucity that underlined the objective of this study. The cross-sectional descriptive study investigated the role of MHS in healthcare utilisation. Data was collected from 308 randomly selected households with pre-documented membership to schemes, with a researcher-administered questionnaire and in-depth interview guide being the primary data collection devices. The data was analysed using SPSS version 23. Besides descriptive statistics, binary logistic regression was employed to explain the relationship between variables. Female respondents were the majority (59.1%), with the median age being 45.8 years. The overall household size among participants was small as each household had an average of 3.47 persons, with 72.1% noting they had formal education. The majority of respondents rated their health status as “good” (36.4%), “very good” (16.6%), or satisfactory (21.8%), as they could access prioritised care because of MHS membership. According to the results, 261 participants (84.7%) sought medical attention during the most recent health episode. Overall, there were gender differences in seeking medical attention, where females were utilizing health services more frequently when compared to their male counterparts. However, the variations were minimal based on the size of the HH, schooling differentials, age, as well as income earners. The results also confirmed that 83.93% of respondents visited formal providers, confirming key informants’ concept of MHS providing motivational benefits to seek care from professionals. However, the logit model ((χ2 = 73.937; df= 2; p < .001) revealed that the scheme was less likely to help individuals cope when the payment was challenging. The logit model also confirmed varying influences of gender, age, the size of HH, education, and income in benefiting from schemes. The study concluded that the schemes are shaping household financial accessibility among low-income households, and recommended further research work to verify the results as the schemes have the potential to complement other financial arrangements in Kirinyaga county.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/21284
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherKenyatta Universityen_US
dc.subjectMutual Health Schemesen_US
dc.subjectHousehold Financial Accessibilityen_US
dc.subjectLow-Income Householdsen_US
dc.subjectKirinyaga Countyen_US
dc.subjectKenyaen_US
dc.titleRole of Mutual Health Schemes in Shaping Household Financial Accessibility among Low-Income Households in Kirinyaga County, Kenyaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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