Iranian Households’ Payments on Food and Health Out-of-Pocket Expenditures: Evidence of Inequality

Tehran University of Medical Sciences Iranian Journal of Public Health 2251-6085 44 8 2015 10 11 Iranian Households’ Payments on Food and Health Out-of-Pocket Expenditures: Evidence of Inequality 1103 1113 EN Hesam GHIASVAND Dept. of Health Economics, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Seyran NAGHDI Research Center for Health Services Management, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Nazanin ABOLHASSANI Dept. of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. Nasrin SHAARBAFCHIZADEH Dept. of Health Services Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Scienc-es, Tehran, Iran. Javad MOGHRI Dept. of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2015 10 11 2015 10 11 Background: Inequality in households’ payments on food and health expenditures presents the accessibility and utili-zation patterns between them. This study investigated the Iranian rural and urban households’ inequality in payments on food and Out-of-Pocket health expenditures from 1998 to 2012. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted through the analysis of Iranian Statistics Centre data on Iranian households’ income and expenditures. The Gini Coefficients, Concentration and Kakwani indices have been calculat-ed for Iranian rural and urban households’ Out-of-Pocket health and food expenditures. Results: The means of Iranian rural and urban total consumption expenditures inequality were 0.48 and 0.48, respec-tively. The means of concentration index of food expenditures for rural and urban regions were 0.35 and 0.34, respec-tively. The means of Out-of-Pocket payments for health services for rural and urban regions were 0.51 and 0.5, re-spectively. Finally the means of Kakwani index of Out-of-Pocket health payments in rural and urban households were -0.005 and -0.018, respectively. Conclusion: There are relative high levels of inequality in Iranian households’ payments on food and Out-of-Pocket health expenditures. https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/view/3360 https://ijph.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijph/article/download/3360/3079