ISSN: 2642-6250
Authors: Manal A Elimam*, Habbani K, Fatima Elhassan and Gabrallah S
Introduction: Equity is an important health and ethical concept, emphasized and recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), and one of the health system performance assessment methods. Patients have to pay out of pocket to purchase health services, which might reduce their income and sometimes exhaust their savings and earnings to the point that it will turn catastrophic. Breast cancer is one of the chronic diseases that imposes heavy economic burdens and has high costs. This study attempted to determine the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure among households with women who have breast cancer. Methods: A descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study design. It was conducted at the outpatient clinic at the Radioisotope Center Khartoum, including households with breast females who have breast cancer patients older than 18 years with a treatment duration of not less than two weeks. 170 women out of 432 were interviewed through a closed-ended questionnaire. Data were processed and analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS V20). The correlation was tested by chi-square and logistic regression. Findings: 79.4% of patients faced catastrophic health expenditures. There were significant relationships between catastrophic health expenditures and coverage with insurance, total household expenditures, and having an extra job. Conclusion: This high incidence of catastrophic health expenditure is alarming, and it means that no one is immune against, so a bunch of protection measures and actions have to be implemented, and polices have to be revised, especially for cancer patients. Also, insurance policies and schemes have to be evaluated and revised. More space and resources have to be given to the early detection of breast cancer alongside education and awareness campaigns.
Keywords: Breast Cancer; Catastrophic Health Expenditure; Out of Pocket; Equity
