Level of awareness, and factors associated with willingness to participate in the National Health Insurance Scheme among traders in Abakaliki main market, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Introduction: The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was introduced in Nigeria in 2005, and nine years after its inception only 3.5% of the population have been enrolled in three Sectors of the Scheme. Traders and others in the informal sector are not involvement in the scheme. This study was conducted to assess the level of awareness, and factors that could affect the willingness of traders in Abakaliki main market to participate in the National Health Insurance Scheme. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study of 419 traders (53% males and 47% females) was carried out using a three stage sampling technique. Data was collected using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire, and was analyzed using SPSS (version 20) and Mathcad 7 Professional software. Frequencies and percentages were calculated, while Chi square test and Z-score were used to test for associations, with P < 0.05 set as level of significance. Results: Only 127 (30.3%) of the 419 traders were aware of NHIS, and significant majority (73.2%) of those aware of the scheme were willing to participate. No factor was significantly associated with willingness to participate. Conclusion: Awareness of NHIS was very poor among the traders, but majority of them were willing to participate in the scheme. Enlightenment campaigns should be embarked upon in the markets to increase awareness of the scheme among the traders, as this could influence their participation.