Illness reporting and demand for medical care in rural Burkina Faso

Soc Sci Med. 2010 Jun;70(11):1693-700. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.02.002. Epub 2010 Feb 19.

Abstract

The issue of illness reporting in modelling demand for health care in low- and middle-income countries can be handled according to either of two conceptually-different constructs: (a) considering illness reporting behaviour as endogenous to demand; or (b) considering demand itself as the outcome of a sample selection phenomenon. In this paper, we take the second viewpoint and estimate the demand for medical care with an estimator that uses Heckman-type. Empirical estimates based on household survey data from rural Burkina Faso suggest that there are some implications of illness reporting behaviour for modelling the demand for medical care.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Bias
  • Burkina Faso
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Data Collection
  • Empirical Research
  • Female
  • Health Expenditures / statistics & numerical data
  • Health Services Needs and Demand*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Needs Assessment*
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care / statistics & numerical data*
  • Rural Health Services / economics
  • Rural Health Services / statistics & numerical data
  • Rural Health Services / supply & distribution*
  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Young Adult