Socio‐economic inequalities in diabetes prevalence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al-Hanawi, Mohammed Khaled; Chirwa, Gowokani Chijere; Pulok, Mohammad Habibullah

doi:10.1002/hpm.2899

Cited by 29 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(59 reference statements)

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“…15 Thirdly, by increasing medical check-ups, particularly for blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes, health insurance plays a crucial role in managing the conditions of people living with these diseases that also happen to be lethal in the KSA. [39][40][41][42] This finding is supported by evidence found in the United States of America (USA). In the USA insurance increases utilisation of medical services amongst those with chronic health conditions.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

The Effects of Health Insurance on Health-Seeking Behaviour: Evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al-Hanawi

Mwale

Kamninga³

2020

RMHP

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Background: Saudi Arabia's healthcare sector is growing at a hasty stride; nevertheless, the quality of healthcare consumption remains challenged by the growing caseload in free public health facilities. Insurance could ease this pressure by moving some healthcare demand to private facilities conditional on its ability to enact health-seeking behaviour. These potential effects remain under-investigated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether health insurance nudges health-seeking behaviour using data from Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: The study used nationally representative secondary data, obtained from the Family Health Survey, conducted in 2018, in Saudi Arabia. Health-seeking behaviour was measured by individual attendance of medical check-up. To account for endogeneity due to non-random selection of individuals into insurance, the analysis employed the inverse propensity weighting and the instrumental variables methods. Results: The results revealed that health insurance leads to increased chances of going for medical check-up. The effects are higher amongst non-Saudi nationals relative to citizens. Furthermore, people who purchase personal health insurance schemes are more likely to go for checks-ups, followed by individuals provided by the private sector and government sector. Finally, the study found that insurance positively nudges hypertension, diabetes, and cholesterol specific medical check-ups. Conclusion:The findings indicated the need for health policy to increase access to health insurance in Saudi Arabia. A notable policy response is the introduction of national health insurance coverage, which has already proven in other countries as an effective measure to attain universal access to improved health. Nevertheless, results from this study highlighted variations in demand for health seeking based on type of insurance with highest returns in personal insurance. Policy should leverage on this behaviour response by introducing insurance packages that share premiums with citizens to incentivise utilisation. The results can also be used to design policy responses to demand for insurance, in the entire Arabian Gulf region, since these countries have similar health financing mechanism with Saudi Arabia.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 68%

The Effects of Health Insurance on Health-Seeking Behaviour: Evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al-Hanawi

Mwale

Kamninga³

2020

RMHP

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“…The prevalence of obesity is higher in Arabian Gulf countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) than most other countries in the world [7]. Indeed, the KSA has witnessed an increase in cases of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as obesity and diabetes, and it has one of the highest rates of overweight and obesity worldwide [8][9][10]. While potential contributors to obesity are multiple and complex, prolonged television viewing has been cited as one of the main risk factors that contribute to an increase in the risk of NCDs, including obesity [11][12][13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does prolonged television viewing affect Body Mass Index? A case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

et al. 2020

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Background The rising prevalence of overweight and obesity and their health implications is a major public health concern worldwide. This study set out to understand the relationship between the number of hours spent watching television and Body Mass Index (BMI) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using data from the Saudi Health Interview Survey. Methods The study employed both ordinary least squares and quantile regressions to estimate the mean and distributional association of prolonged television watching and BMI. Results The findings showed that prolonged television viewing is associated with larger BMI values. Additionally, the relationship was found to be greater towards the lower and upper tails of the BMI range and insignificant in the middle of the BMI distribution. Furthermore, the findings also showed that there is a gender gap in BMI levels, where females are likely to have higher BMI values than males. Conclusions The creation of more proactive recreational programs that can act as substitutes to television watching is recommended in order to reduce the amount of time that individuals spend watching television. It is also recommended that such interventions are tailored towards improving females' levels of physical activity. The inclusion of television programs aimed at encouraging physical exercise and healthy diets is also imperative.

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“…However, the increased prevalence of non-communicable diseases, such as obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia, diabetes, asthma and cancer, with all the attendant risk factors, together with road traffic injuries, places significant burdens on the public healthcare of the KSA. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] In the KSA, health expenditure per capita has increased in the last three decades, yet such expenditure is comparatively low when compared with other high-income countries of the world. For example, the percentage of gross domestic product dedicated to health in 2017 was 5.74, which is relatively low when compared to the average percentage reported for the high-income Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Financial Inclusion on Access to Emergency Funds for Healthcare in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Al-Hanawi

Chirwa

Kamninga

et al. 2020

JMDH

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Background: Having access to convenient and quality healthcare at all times is not only a human right but also a goal that many countries strive to achieve for their population. However, access to healthcare might face blocks in the presence of financial exclusions. Saudi Arabia has, over the years, continued to pursue policy and system reforms to enhance its population's access to financial inclusion, as well as proper health coverage to improve health outcomes. This study seeks to estimate the effects of financial inclusion on the financial hardships in accessing healthcare in Saudi Arabia. Methods: This study uses a nationally representative survey conducted with 1009 adults, using the 2017 World Bank Global Findex Study data. The study estimates the conditional probability of coming up with emergency funds and the conditional probability of borrowing for medical purposes to understand access to healthcare. A composite value is created for financial inclusion using several variables for individuals' interactions with financial institutions, such as access to financial services and loans. Results: The results revealed that financially included individuals have a higher conditional probability of both borrowing for medical purposes and coming up with emergency funds, compared to those who are financially excluded. Additionally, the study showed that individuals in low-income brackets are more likely to be financially excluded and have a reduced chance of coming up with emergency funds and borrowing for medical purposes. Conclusion: These findings indicate that there is need for authorities to roll out a financial inclusion drive that will not only incentivise the financially excluded population to become included but that will also aim at promoting various financial products so that those who are already financially included have a wide range from which they can choose.

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Socio‐economic inequalities in diabetes prevalence in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Cited by 29 publications

References 52 publications

<p>The Effects of Health Insurance on Health-Seeking Behaviour: Evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia</p>

<p>The Effects of Health Insurance on Health-Seeking Behaviour: Evidence from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia</p>

Does prolonged television viewing affect Body Mass Index? A case of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

<p>Effects of Financial Inclusion on Access to Emergency Funds for Healthcare in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia</p>

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