Socioeconomic status and health shocks; analysis of coping strategies in rural households of Enugu State, Nigeria

Health Shocks and Coping Mechanisms in North Central Nigeria: The Gender Perspective

“…The FHHs constitute slightly more than a third of household heads, this is in line with other findings in Nigeria that show that FHHs ranges from 36% to 42% (Urama, 2019). This study showed that health shocks were more prevalent among the FHHs, this is probably because women lag behind in socio-economic developments in terms of education, income and lack of control of cultural norms like widows being dispossessed of their husband's property.…”

“…This study found that the pattern of healthcare expenditure as a result of OOP spending by households in the North Central Nigeria showed that the poorer households paid higher percentage of their income and total household expenditure on healthcare compared with richer households. This invariably means that the poorer households bear the greater burden of healthcare spending and this is even worse for households that are headed by females (Olaniyan, Chukwuedo & Obafemi, 2013;Iloka et al, 2018;Azzani, Roslani & Su, 2019;Urama et al, 2019). In this study, the FHHs bore greater burden of health care expenditures than MHHs, which could be related to the higher demands for healthcare especially their reproductive and sexual health needs.…”

“…This study showed that health shocks were more prevalent among the FHHs, this is probably because women lag behind in socio-economic developments in terms of education, income and lack of control of cultural norms like widows being dispossessed of their husband's property. This may further make them lack the purchasing power for healthcare (Holmes et al, 2012;Urama et al, 2019). The policy implication for this is to ensure socio-economic capacity of women becomes a priority.…”

“…These coping mechanisms during health shocks sometimes have a negative vicious cycle effects on households, especially the poor and vulnerable (Ewelukwa et al, 2013;Bonfer & Gustafsson 2017). Studies have shown that the major problem of health shocks and the negative effects it has on households in developing countries especially Nigeria is the financial burden OOP poses and the threat it exerts by pushing UHC further out of reach, with women and girls being at the receiving end than the male gender (Babatunde et al, 2016;Onisanwa & Olaniyan, 2018;Urama et al, 2019). The women population represents about 70% of the world's poor (Urama et al, 2019), and comprises women who are female-headed households (FHHs).…”

“…These indices have been shown to be worse among women dwelling in the rural communities and among women with poor education. This is significant because the number of women who are becoming household heads is growing globally (Urama et al, 2019).…”