2023 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Informing the design of policies aimed at increasing health financial protection to accelerate universal health coverage in West Africa
| Project/Area Number |
22H03309
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | Hitotsubashi University |
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Principal Investigator |
Rouyard Thomas 一橋大学, 社会科学高等研究院, HIAS客員研究員 (40859542)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
中村 良太 一橋大学, 社会科学高等研究院, HIAS客員研究員 (00717209)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2022-04-01 – 2025-03-31
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| Keywords | Healthcare coverage / Financial protection / West Africa |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
We made steady progress toward the project objectives, with some adjustments to the original timeline. Although the second wave of household survey data was received later than anticipated (mid-2024 instead of mid-2023), we successfully completed the planned research during FY2024. In collaboration with our colleagues at Harvard University and the WAEMU（West African Economic and Monetary Union）team, we produced up-to-date estimates of catastrophic health expenditures and health insurance coverage in the WAEMU region. These findings have been presented at two seminars. Building on this achievement, we decided to expand the scope of the research to further enhance the value and policy relevance of the planned manuscript by incorporating an analysis of the determinants and persistence of impoverishing health expenditures, using the same dataset. This strategic adjustment aims to produce a more comprehensive and impactful publication. We are confident that the final output will meaningfully contribute to advancing financial health protection across the WAEMU region.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The research has progressed relatively smoothly thanks to close coordination with our partners and a strong collaborative framework. Although we encountered technical challenges during the dataset preparation phase - specifically, inconsistencies in household matching between the two survey waves - we were able to address these effectively by working closely with WAEMU collaborators, including national data collection teams. These collaborative efforts allowed us to systematically identify and correct the issues, and as of April 2025, the panel matching problems are nearly resolved.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The next step under the research scheme is to complete the panel data analysis on the determinants and persistence of impoverishing health expenditures. With the matching issues nearly resolved, we plan to finalize the longitudinal dataset and conduct the analysis during the summer of 2025. The results will be combined with the existing estimates of catastrophic health expenditures and insurance coverage to produce a comprehensive manuscript, which we aim to submit to a peer-reviewed journal by the end of 2025.
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