| dc.description.abstract | This study analyses factors that influence demand for
selected types of health services in the City of Nairobi. The
services studied are: Outpatient care, Immunization, Obstetric,
Ante-Natal and Family Planning Services.
The factors which determine demand for health services
in the City of Nairobi were gouped into four categories, namely,
socio-economic, environmental, quality and provider
characteristics. The data used to eLt mate effects of these
variables on utilization were collected through a field survey
on patients attending various health facilities in Nairobi
between Januery 26th and March 4th, 1988. A multi-stage sampling
procedure was designed and used to collect data for this study.
The estimated results indicate that economic
variables, that is income, time, cost of treatment and of drugs
have little effect on demand for outpatient services in
Government and Nairobi City Commission facilities. But some of
these factors, especially income, are very important
determinants of health care demand in private facilities. The
results further show that demand for medical services in Nairobi
is not stable across different health care providers. Except for
the government facilities, health care demand functions shift
downwards as one moves from traditional clinics to modern health
care facilities.
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The price and income elasticities obtained in this
study are quite low. These elasticities suggest that ln order to
increase demand for curative services in the City of Nairobi,
prices paid by consumers (including time prices), would have to
be reduced or their incomes increased by a large proportion so
as to increase demand significantly. The study further
demonstrates that demand for curative services provided by
Nairobi City Commission facilities was increased by the closure
of KNH's adult-outpatient services. These and other results are
used to make some policy recommendations. | en |
