Heterogeneous Effects of Demographic Factors on Healthcare Utilisation in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the heterogeneous effects of demographic factors on healthcare utilisation. The two-stage residual inclusion  (2SRI) strategy was utilised in the study to address the endogeneity problem. The study discovered significant differences in the utilisation of healthcare  services based on age distribution and gender after decomposing the data. Based on age distribution disaggregated data, the study discovered  considerable differences in the use of healthcare services. According to the age distribution subsample analysis, gender, education, and obesity were the  variables that determined healthcare utilisation for the working class, whereas locality (rural) determined utilisation for the elderly. Physical inactivity was  the only variable that influenced the working class and the elderly use of healthcare. For children, those from the working class, and the elderly,  healthcare use was commonly determined by NHIS membership, self-assessed health, chronic illness and type of illness. Furthermore, the study found  significant variations in healthcare utilisation when the analysis was based on gender. For the children subsample, self-assessed health and chronic illness  determined females’ healthcare utilisation. Working-class males’ healthcare use was influenced by education, but females’ healthcare use was  affected by NHIS participation, obesity and physical inactivity. Finally, chronic sickness and diarrhoea affected how elderly males used healthcare,  whereas NHIS membership, physical inactivity, and location (rural) affected elderly females’ healthcare utilisation. The study suggests that age and  gender information be taken into account when developing, planning, and implementing healthcare policy to increase the use of healthcare services.