Determining factors that influence the distance travelled by patients seeking for outpatient health care in Kenya

Abstract

Access to uncompromised health care is a basic human right championed by both the UN and enshrined in the Kenyan constitution 2010. Every citizen is supposed to have ease of access to a health facility and get proper medical care irrespective of their financial status. Outpatient care is a key determinant of a healthy population in two main ways. (1) The progression from a simple to a complicated health problem, if well attended to earlier could be diverted and (2) it has a direct effect on the financial effect on households in Kenya. Previous studies have reported catastrophic effects as a result of Out of Pocket (OOP) spending on health care leading to as many as 1.1 million Kenyans to poverty every year. Report by the Kenya Household Health and Utilizatio n Survey indicated that Kenyans spend 48.4 Billion on health care through OOP spending of which outpatient care accounted for 78%. This shows the need to investigate the outpatient care access as it is a huge contributor to catastrophic spending among individuals in Kenya. The main aim of the study was to determine factors affecting patients’ distance in seeking for outpatient health care in Kenya. This study utilized the binary probit regression model to assess the covariates that predict distance travelled to access outpatient care. The data utilized, was a secondary analysis of the Kenya Household Expenditure and Utilization Survey (KHHEUS) that was collected in 2018 with a primary focus of monitoring how Kenyans utilized outpatient and inpatient care in Kenya. We analyzed individual data on 6191 individuals who had complete data. Using the binary probit regression model, we reported results at 95% confidence interval whereby we determined that residence, facility type, mode of transport, education, and wealth index were associated with distance travelled to seek outpatient care. It is noteworthy that those who live in rural residence and the poorest travel long distance to access outpatient care. Therefore, the government should make policies that target increasing the number of outpatient health facilities, that are well equipped to handle more health cases that will see the rural travel short distance for care. Policies that will see a decrease in poverty also need to be formulated so that people can have financial freedom of accessing care wherever they wish and close to where they live