Degree

Master of Science in Economics

Faculty / School

School of Economics and Social Sciences (SESS)

Department

Department of Economics

Date of Submission

2024-12-10

Supervisor

Dr. Lubna Naz, Professor and Director CBER, Department of Economics

Project Type

MSECO Research Project

Access Type

Restricted Access

Keywords

Catastrophic Health Expenditure, Communicable Diseases, Non-communicable diseases, Poverty

JEL Code

H5, I3

Abstract

In Pakistan, out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare expenses are a cornerstone of healthcare financing. Particularly when confronted with multiple chronic illnesses, these OOP health costs can surge to levels deemed catastrophic, placing considerable financial strain on households. Against this backdrop, this study pursues a twofold objective: examining the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) concerning both communicable diseases (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and evaluating its impoverishing ramifications in Pakistan. Drawing upon data from the Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES, 2018- 2019) and the National Health Accounts Data Set, the study employs the capacity-to-pay approach to ascertain the percentage of households encountering OOP payments surpassing 20 percent of their total expenditure, encompassing both inpatient and outpatient treatments, to gauge the prevalence of CHE. Sensitivity analysis of CHE is conducted using thresholds ranging from 5% to 20%. Utilizing Pakistan's official poverty line, the study assesses the impoverishing effect of OOP expenditure separately for CDs and NCDs. Finally, Multivariate Logistic regression is deployed to analyze the impact of various factors on CHE for CDs and NCDs individually. The findings underscore a noteworthy proportion of households experiencing CHE during the 2018-19 timeframe. CHE linked to both CDs and NCDs exacerbates poverty rates, potentially further entrenching them.

Pages

ix, 43

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