Level and determinants of willingness to pay for rapid COVID-19 testing delivered through private retail pharmacies in Kenya

  1. Jacob Kazungu
  2. Audrey Mumbi
  3. Precious Kilimo
  4. Jessica Vernon
  5. Edwine Barasa
  6. Peter Mugo

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Abstract

Introduction

To support the government response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, accessible and sustainable testing approaches are needed. Private retail pharmacies are a key channel through which communities can access COVID-19 testing. We examined the level and determinants of the willingness to pay (WTP) for rapid COVID-19 testing delivered through private retail pharmacies in Kenya.

Methods

Data was collected following a cross-sectional double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation survey across 341 clients visiting five private retail pharmacies in Nairobi, Kisumu and Siaya counties.

Results

Our findings indicate mean and median WTP levels of KES 611 (US$ 5.59) and KES 506 (US$ 4.63), respectively. Estimated WTP varied across counties and increased with household income and self-reported interest in pharmacy-based COVID-19 rapid testing.

Conclusion

These findings can inform price setting, price differentiation, price subsidization and other program design features geared towards enhancing affordability, equity, and uptake.

Key Questions

What is already known?

  • The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic continues to cause great morbidity, mortality, social and economic burden.

  • Pharmacies in Kenya have been involved in the delivery of several health interventions, such as malaria rapid testing, HIV self-testing, and other disease screening services.

  • While COVID-19 testing remains an important response strategy to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is not clear how much pharmacy clients in Kenya and similar settings would be willing to pay (WTP) to obtain rapid COVID-19 testing at pharmacies

What are the new findings?

  • The mean and median willingness to pay (WTP) for a rapid test delivered at a private retail pharmacy was KES 611 (US$ 5.59) and KES 506 (US$ 4.63), respectively.

  • WTP varied by county, hence, the need for county-specific price-setting for pharmacy-based COVID-19 testing.

  • WTP increased with household income and interest in getting the COVID-19 test at a private retail pharmacy.

What do the new findings imply?

  • A better understanding of the user’s willingness to pay price that can guide price setting, price differentiation, price subsidization and other program design features geared towards enhancing affordability, equity, and uptake.

Article activity feed

  1. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2021.10.10.21264807: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    NIH rigor criteria are not applicable to paper type.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Participants were randomly assigned to the two starting bids using the randomization module in REDCap [35].
    REDCap
    suggested: (REDCap, RRID:SCR_003445)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Findings from this study should be interpreted in light of some limitations. First, since the study was conducted in only 3 predominantly urban counties, the findings may not be generalizable to all counties in Kenya or other African country settings. Future studies can increase both the sample size and counties engaged to get further details about the variation in prices and obtain a more generalizable estimate. Second, as with all other stated preference elicitation approaches, WTP estimates from a contingent valuation method (a type of a stated preference elicitation method) are prone to hypothetical bias where participants may be inclined to state a higher willingness to pay price than they would pay in reality. However, a clear description of the settings and conducting the study during the COVID-19 pandemic hopefully makes our estimates realistic. Third, the linear estimation of the demand curve may not be entirely accurate as the relationship between quantity demanded and price may not be as linear as it is often a non-linear curve with a negative slope [44]. Future studies could include more starting bids to enable better plotting of the demand curve.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    Results from scite Reference Check: We found no unreliable references.

    About SciScore

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  2. Version published to 10.1101/2021.10.10.21264807v1 on medRxiv