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The Demand for Health Care Services in Rural Tanzania
Author(s) -
Sahn David E.,
Younger Stephen D.,
Genicot Garance
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
oxford bulletin of economics and statistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.131
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1468-0084
pISSN - 0305-9049
DOI - 10.1111/1468-0084.t01-2-00046
Subject(s) - tanzania , multinomial logistic regression , health care , quality (philosophy) , public economics , business , private sector , public sector , logit , public health , economics , demographic economics , economic growth , socioeconomics , medicine , nursing , econometrics , philosophy , economy , epistemology , machine learning , computer science
This paper examines the pattern of health care demand in rural Tanzania. We distinguish between hospital and clinic‐based care, in both the public and private sector using a two‐level nested multinomial logit model. Own price elasticities of demand for all health care options are high, although less so for public clinics and dispensaries than other choices. However, there is a high degree of substitution between public and private care. Consequently, price increases or user fees will result in small percentage of people opting for self‐treatment. Another important contribution of this paper is that the quality of medical care has large effects on health demand. This applies to the quality and availability of doctors/nurses, drugs and the clinic environment.