HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Onwujekwe, O. Articles by Uzochukwu, B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Onwujekwe, O. Articles by Uzochukwu, B. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Malaria Related Collections Malaria Program Management

Inequities in Valuation of Benefits, Choice of Drugs, and Mode of Payment for Malaria Treatment Services Provided by Community Health Workers in Nigeria

This study determined inequities of using community health workers (CHWs) for timely and appropriate treatment of malaria in terms of: 1) valuation of benefits; 2) actual purchase of drugs; and 3) payment modality in southeast Nigeria. Socioeconomic status (SES) influenced the valuation of benefits. Also, the poorest households consumed more of the cheaper drug and less of the more expensive drug (P < 0.05). The least poor households mostly paid in full, whereas the poorest households paid mostly through installments (P < 0.05). The use of CHWs improved overall geographic but not socioeconomic equity to the drugs. Hence, interventions for timely and appropriate treatment of malaria should be accompanied by drug delivery and payment strategies that would ensure SES equity in consumption of appropriate malaria treatment services.

Received October 25, 2006. Accepted for publication December 22, 2006.

Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to the village leaders and the villagers that volunteered to be trained as community health workers. We acknowledge the collaboration of the Oji-River local government primary health coordinator and the local malaria control manager for their collaboration and all others too numerous to mention that made the project a success.

Financial support: The Gates Malaria Partnership, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine funded the first author’s time in writing the paper as part of his post-doctoral work. The study was funded by the International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada.

^* Address correspondence to Obinna Onwujekwe, Health Policy Research Unit, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, PMB 01129, Enugu, Nigeria. E-mail: Onwujekwe{at}yahoo.co.uk

Authors’ addresses: Obinna Onwujekwe, Department of Health Administration and Management, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, PMB 00129, Enugu, Nigeria, E-mail: Onwujekwe{at}yahoo.co.uk. Juliana Ojukwu, Department of Pediatrics, Ebonyi State University Teaching Hospital, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Elvis Shu, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, PMB 00129, Enugu, Nigeria. Benjamin Uzochukwu, Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, PMB 00129, Enugu, Nigeria.