WILLINGNESS-TO-PAY FOR COMMUNITY-BASED IVERMECTIN DISTRIBUTION - A STUDY OF 3 ONCHOCERCIASIS-ENDEMIC COMMUNITIES IN NIGERIA

OBJECTIVE To determine the willingness to pay (WTP) for local ivermect in distribution in a community financing framework. METHOD Contingent valuation in three communities in Nigeria, using randomly selected hou sehold heads. WTP was elicited using a bidding game, and for collectin g information on the households' socio-economic status, level of knowl edge, priority ranking and perception of risk of contracting the disea se, structured questionnaires were used. Ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis was used to analyst: factors associated w ith WTP. RESULTS Between 92.1% and 93.3% of respondents wore willing t o pay amounts ranging from 5 Naira (US$ 0.06) to 100 Naira (US$ 1.25) (median: 20 Naira, US$ 0.25) in the three communities, more than three times the modelled unit direct cost of distributing ivermectin by the communities themselves. Occupation of the respondent, marital status, average monthly expenditure on health care, manifestations of onchoce rciasis, the type of savings scheme embarked on by the respondent, age -group, level of education and type of property were statistically sig nificant (P < 0.05) variables affecting WTP. CONCLUSION This study sho ws that there is WTP for local ivermectin distribution in the three st udy communities, and that it should be assessed before instituting com munity-directed treatment with ivermectin.