Table 5

Average household expenditure per episode by providers and expenditure quintiles in Vietnamese dong

Equalized household expenditure quintiles
 Total


Poorest
 2
 3
 4
 Richest
Self treatment
 11,854
 15,595
 18,495
 29,945
 32,063
 19,616
providers (privatre+public)
 31,755
 42,504
 46,344
 40,127
 63,059
 45,887
Private providers
 24,915
 30,004
 34,496
 34,645
 47,882
 35,206
     Traditional healer
 39,290
 49,659
 52,881
 38,421
 26,224
 38,236
     Privatehealth care
 23,645
 28,730
 32,432
 33,995
 52,379
 34,803
Public providers
 56,653
 104,548
 128,806
 60,526
 127,787
 95,795
     Commune health station
 32,719
 43,950
 82,418
 36,314
 38,808
 48,096
     District health center
 44,940
 148,116
 187,857
 48,333
 56,813
 80,031
     Province/central hospital
 158,375
 163,206
 169,700
 110,402
 363,858
 209,144
     Total
 23,428
 33,997
 38,228
 38,354
 58,179
 39,191

Table 5 shows that the average household expenditure per episode of illness is less for self-treatment (919,616 VND) and for private providers (35,206 VND) than for public providers (95,795 VND). The average household health expenditure for a single illness episode is higher for hospital treatment than for district health centres and commune health stations.

HH is the abbreviation of household; p-value for the comparison between the lowest and highest quintile groups; *** denotes significant at the 1% level; **denotes significant at 5% level. Percentage shares are shown within brackets.

Thuan et al. BMC Health Services Research 2008 8:162   doi:10.1186/1472-6963-8-162