Utilization of Health Services in the Burkina Faso Health System: Empirical Evidence of Health System Fragmentation and Integration

Abstract

In this paper, the utilization of health services in the context of health system fragmentation in Burkina Faso is analyzed using household living condition survey data. The methodology explores the relationships between population health risk factors and health services utilization. The results of the analysis highlighted eight reference care providers in the Burkina Faso health system; thus, the probability of service use in the first level of the system, assumed to be its point of entry, is significantly and negatively associated with age and sex, with a lower probability for female gender. As a whole, the health risk factors positively influence the probability of service use at the higher levels of the health system and in the private sector. The results suggest that utilization of the traditional health sector remains predominated by the elderly. These results thus suggest the need for coordination of care across the levels of the public healthcare sector, on the one hand, and the presence of interaction and integration between the traditional or private sector and the public sector, on the other hand.