Importance of health spending in the Base of the Pyramid (BoP) population in Táchira, Venezuela

Introduction. This research analyzes whether health is among the three main expenditures that a household allocates from its income in the population at the base of the pyramid (BoP) and whether there is an association with people belonging to different socioeconomic levels of the BoP in the state of Táchira, Venezuela. Methods. Data was obtained from a structured questionnaire applied to a sample of 1,398 households in the Táchira region, Venezuela, which were classified by socioeconomic levels through the construction of a global synthetic index that, through scales, allows segmenting households by poverty conditions, from the most intense poverty condition to the most favorable non-poverty condition respectively, resulting in 675 households at the base of the pyramid. Results. For households at BoP levels 2 and 3, health expenditures are presented in greater proportion than in level 1, with a value of 55.74% and 51.77%, respectively, while in level 1 only 26.67% of households included health ex- penditures among the top three, likewise there is evidence of association between the BoP level and the categories of expenditures on housing, public services, health, and education. Conclusions. The results of this research also confirm the theory that the BoP population is heterogeneous due to socio-cultural differences, evidenced in the association that exists between health expenditure and socioeconomic level, when rejecting the hypothesis of independence, which means that the proportion of households that consider health expenditure important varies depending on which level of the BoP they are in. Keywords: base of the pyramid, socioeconomic level, health spending, poverty

• Autores: Contreras Velásquez, Julio César; García Navarro, Jorge Isaac; Contreras Velásquez, Zaida Rocío; Londoño Arias, José Alban; Albornoz Arias, Neida; Rosario Cohen, Miguel Antonio; Torres Valdez, Maritza Auxiliadora; Angarita Dávila, Lissé Chiquinquirá; Contreras Velásquez, Camilo Andrés; García Pacheco, Henry; Bermúdez Pirela, Valmore José
• Tipo de recurso: Article of investigation
• Fecha de publicación: 2022
• Institución: Tecnológico de Antioquia
• Repositorio: Repositorio Tdea
• Idioma: eng
• OAI Identifier: oai:dspace.tdea.edu.co:tdea/3853
• Acceso en línea: https://dspace.tdea.edu.co/handle/tdea/3853
• Palabra clave: Socioeconomic level; Nivel Socioeconómico; Nível Socioeconômico; Statut socio-économique; Gastos en Salud; Health Expenditures; Gastos em Saúde; Dépenses de santé; Poverty; Pobreza; Pauvreté; Base of the pyramid; Base de la pirámide; Health spending; Gasto sanitario
• Rights: openAccess
• License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/