A study to assess catastrophic household expenditure on childhood illness in an urban slum in Bijapur

OBJECTIVE: In this study, the various factors determining the out-of-pocket expenditure on child health care by households are discussed to answer the following questions: How much are households currently spending on child health care? Is there any role of socio-economic status of households on expenditure on child health care? What percentage of their income is spent on child health care and is it catastrophic? MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four slums with a total a population of 7000 were selected for this study. Households where there is history of illness/ sickness in children under 5 years in last one month were included in the study. RESULTS: There were a total of 218 episodes of child illness in the households. The household's belonging to socio- economic class I and II had higher spending on child's illness per episode as compared to households of socio- economic class III, IV, and V. Socioeconomic status was the key determinant of health care expenditure. CONCLUSION: In this study, it has been found that almost all the households suffered from catastrophic health expenditure.