Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.

<h4>Background</h4>Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) is an indicator used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess equity in households' payments to the health system. In this paper, we prospectively calculated the population at risk of facing catastrophic expenditure du...

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Main Authors: Mohammadreza Amiresmaili, Zahra Emrani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2019-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214783
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author Mohammadreza Amiresmaili
Zahra Emrani
author_facet Mohammadreza Amiresmaili
Zahra Emrani
author_sort Mohammadreza Amiresmaili
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Background</h4>Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) is an indicator used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess equity in households' payments to the health system. In this paper, we prospectively calculated the population at risk of facing catastrophic expenditure due to purchasing three selected medicines (metformin, atorvastatin and amoxicillin) in Iran.<h4>Method</h4>This study draws on the data set of the Iranian National Household Survey of 38244 households in Iran. CHE was calculated based on "capacity to pay" using different thresholds.<h4>Results</h4>20, 16 and 3 households had to spend more than 40% of their capacity to pay on amoxicillin, atorvastatin and metformin respectively. Lowest priced generic (LPG) medicines were found more affordable than the original brand (OB) medicines. Age, literacy and gender of head of household, economic status, settlement, size and number of breadwinners in the households share important association with CHE.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Requirement of these specific medicines for long-term may subject the Iranian households to CHE. The study demonstrates important and specific insights for health policy makers in Iran to protect the households from healthcare catastrophes.
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spelling doaj.art-2f2c69d8fd7049ac98396a7a27caa6742022-12-21T19:13:36ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-01144e021478310.1371/journal.pone.0214783Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.Mohammadreza AmiresmailiZahra Emrani<h4>Background</h4>Catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) is an indicator used by the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess equity in households' payments to the health system. In this paper, we prospectively calculated the population at risk of facing catastrophic expenditure due to purchasing three selected medicines (metformin, atorvastatin and amoxicillin) in Iran.<h4>Method</h4>This study draws on the data set of the Iranian National Household Survey of 38244 households in Iran. CHE was calculated based on "capacity to pay" using different thresholds.<h4>Results</h4>20, 16 and 3 households had to spend more than 40% of their capacity to pay on amoxicillin, atorvastatin and metformin respectively. Lowest priced generic (LPG) medicines were found more affordable than the original brand (OB) medicines. Age, literacy and gender of head of household, economic status, settlement, size and number of breadwinners in the households share important association with CHE.<h4>Conclusion</h4>Requirement of these specific medicines for long-term may subject the Iranian households to CHE. The study demonstrates important and specific insights for health policy makers in Iran to protect the households from healthcare catastrophes.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214783
spellingShingle Mohammadreza Amiresmaili
Zahra Emrani
Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.
PLoS ONE
title Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.
title_full Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.
title_fullStr Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.
title_full_unstemmed Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.
title_short Investigating the exposure of Iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines.
title_sort investigating the exposure of iranian households to catastrophic health expenditure due to the need to purchase medicines
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214783
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