Willingness to join community‐based health insurance and its associated factors among households in West Gojjam zone, North Mecha Woreda, Amhara region, Ethiopia

• Published date: 01 March 2023
• Author: Getaneh B. Demeke
• Date: 01 March 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.536

Received: 27 December 2021

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Revised: 19 March 2022

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Accepted: 25 April 2022

DOI: 10.1002/wmh3.536

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Willingness to join community‐based health

insurance and its associated factors among

households in West Gojjam zone, North

Mecha Woreda, Amhara region, Ethiopia

Getaneh B. Demeke

Department of Population Studies, College of

Social Sciences and Humanities, University

of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia

Correspondence

Getaneh B. Demeke, Department of

Population Studies, College of Social

Sciences and Humanities, University of

Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.

Email: getanehuog@gmail.com

Abstract

Background: Community based health insurance

(CBHI) schemes are increasingly recognized as poten-

tial strategy for achieving health coverage in developing

countries. Health insurance is also expected to afford

financial protection because it reduces the risk associ-

ated with falling ill. A community based cross‐sectional

study design was employed. Multistage cluster, simple

random, and systematic sampling techniques were

used. A simple random sampling procedure was used

tochoose the sampled household heads. The variables

were analyzed using bivariate and multivariate logistic

regression with a 95% confidence interval and a p‐value

< 0.05, used to determine the strength of the associa-

tion. This study had 285 participants, with a response

rate of 96.3% out of a total of 296 sampled study

participants. 90.9% of repondents were willing to join,

and 89.8% were willing to pay CBHI. Based on findings

joining CBHI membership provided benefits such as

lower out of pocket cost (86.8%), improved health status

(8.3%), reduced severity risk (2.3%), and increased

productivity (2.6%). This study showed that willingness

to join CBHI was higher than the findings of an other

study conducted in Ethiopia. These findings are helpful

for planning as well as expanding the sceme through

outthe country. The main challenges to health service

utilization in government health facilities are a lack of

available medicine, poor service delivery, lack of

laboratories, health personnel improper behavior, and

ashortage of ambulance services. To address such

concerns, the government should be encouraged health

care access.

World Medical & Health Policy. 2023;15:21–35. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/wmh3 © 2022 Policy Studies Organization.

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