Willingness to Pay for Oral Health Care for 350 Users of Public Dental Offices in Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire

Abstract

In Cote d'Ivoire, the financial difficulties experienced by the population represent obstacles to the consumption of oral health care. Thus, insurance mechanisms based on the principle of cost sharing are recommended to improve financial accessibility to this care. The cross-sectional study was conducted with users of three public dental practices in the city of Abidjan. The data were collected using a questionnaire. The numbers and frequencies related to the modalities of the use of oral health care, as well as the users' perception of their costs were calculated. Also, the willingness of users to pay for oral care has been measured. 350 users participated in the study. More than one third of users (36%) felt that the cost of dental services was high. 80.1% and 57.1% of respondents reported spending less than 5 $ US to honor the cost of oral consultation and the purchase of medicines respectively. 74% of users were in favor of setting up an insurance system with a willingness to pay less than 10 $ US per month. This willingness to pay has been estimated for all users at 2 $ US per month. The willingness of populations to contribute to the financing of oral health care has been proven. Achieving universal health coverage based on solidarity requires the establishment of prepayment mechanisms by adjusting the amounts of contributions to each person's ability to pay.