Basing care reforms on evidence: The Kenya health sector costing model
2011

Costing Health Care Services in Kenya

Sample size: 154 publication 10 minutes Evidence: high

Author Information

Author(s): Flessa Steffen, Moeller Michael, Ensor Tim, Hornetz Klaus

Primary Institution: University of Greifswald

Hypothesis

How high are the actual costs of health care services in total?

Conclusion

The study found that health care costs in Kenya are high compared to the national income, but increasing coverage does not necessarily lead to proportional increases in costs.

Supporting Evidence

  • The total costs of essential health care services in Kenya were calculated as 690 million Euros.
  • 54% of the costs were incurred by public sector facilities.
  • Costs of lower levels of care are generally lower than those of higher levels.

Takeaway

This study looked at how much health care costs in Kenya and found that while costs are high, they don't always go up when more people use the services.

Methodology

The study used standard costing methodologies and collected data from 207 health care facilities and 1369 patients to analyze costs.

Potential Biases

Potential bias due to incomplete data from some facilities and the exclusion of certain areas.

Limitations

The study may not fully represent costs in Nairobi and did not cover community services comprehensively.

Participant Demographics

Included various health care facilities across urban and rural settings in Kenya.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1472-6963-11-128

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