Willingness to Pay for Cataract Surgery Among Outreach Site Patients in South West Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Cost recovery for cataract surgery will have significant input towards a sustainable eye care system; therefore it is important to assess the willingness to pay of patients with cataract blindness for cataract surgery. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted in two outreach sites in South West Ethiopia to determine their willingness to pay for cataract surgery. Consecutive patients who had mature senile cataract and came to two outreach program sites were included in the study. Results: A total of 134 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 62.5years (SD=9.4). The majority, 86 (64.2 %), were males making the male to female ratio 1.79:1. A total of 102 (76.1%) participants of the study said that they were willing to pay for their cataract surgery. Males were more willing to pay as compared to females (83.7% vs. 62.5%, p=0.006). Those with low socio-economic conditions were less willing to pay (p< 0.05). Willingness to pay was not associated with the age (p= 0.25), literacy (p=0.66), religion (0.3), or family size (0.43) of the participants. On multiple logistic regression analysis, however, only being a female and also having a low socioeconomic status were significantly associated with not willing to pay. Conclusions: A good proportion of the rural residents were willing to pay for their cataract surgery. Being female and having lower socioeconomic status are associated with not willingness to pay.