Distribution of out of pocket health expenditures in a sub-Saharan Africa country: evidence from the national survey of household standard of living, Côte d’Ivoire

OBJECTIVE: The purpose and objective of our research is to identify the determinants of the out of pocket (OOP) health expenditures in the population of Ivory Coast and the ratios across three different area; Abidjan, the rural and urban area. We used data from the 2015 standard households living survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistic. RESULTS: About 6315 (13.3%) of the participants had experienced OOP health expenditure. There was significant differences in the self-reported OOP between these three areas (p < 0.001). The overall mean of OOP expenditure among all participants was 16,034.33 XOF (29 USD). People in Abidjan spent an average of 1.6 and 1.5 times more than those in the rural and urban areas respectively (p < 0.001). Hospitalization is the highest expenditure item in terms of money spent, while drugs are the most common item of expenditure in terms of frequency, regardless of the place of residence. Female gender, high social economic status and large household size increase OOP health expenditure significantly in all areas of residence when insurance reduce it. To reduce the impact of the direct payments there is a need to take into account social demographic factors in addition to economic factor in health policy development.