The elimination of healthcare user fees for children under five substantially alleviates the burden on household expenses in Burkina Faso

Table 3 Effects of the intervention on total health expenditures during an episode of illness for users and non-users of a public health facility^a

		Episode of illness
		With use of a public health facility		Without use of a public health facility
Probability of incurring an expense during the episode^b		Estimate	CI	Estimate	CI
	Pre-intervention propensity (P1)	0.92	[0.86; 0.96]	0.27	[0.22; 0.34]
	Post-intervention propensity (P2)	0.37	[0.28; 0.45]	0.29	[0.21; 0.37]
	P₂ – P₁	−0.55	[−0.65; −0.45]	0.02	[−0.09; 0.13]
	P₂ / P₁ – 1	−60 %		7 %
Total spending (in US$) in cases of expenses^c		Estimate	CI	Estimate	CI
	Total cost pre-intervention (C1)	11.01	[10.00; 12.03]	0.65	[−0.15; 1.41]
	Total cost post-intervention (C2)	1.92	[0.82; 2.97]	0.55	[−0.64; 1.74]
	C2 – C1: absolute savings	−9.09	[−10.58; −7.60]	−0.10	[−1.31; 1.11]
	C2 / C1 – 1: relative savings	−83 %		−15 %

^aValues predicted by simultaneous equation modelling. The sample consists of all illness episodes
^bFirst equation (probit): Probability of incurring an expense. Adjustment variables: year, use of health facility, use*year interaction, location of residence, household income, age of child
^cSecond equation (linear regression): Amount spent. Adjustment variables: year, use of health facility, use*year interaction, location of residence, household income, age, primary symptom, use of traditional practitioner, use of other providers

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