Economic burden on households with people with non-communicable diseases, with special reference to cancer: priorities for policy options pertaining to the Sri Lankan context

Non-communicable diseases have become a major threat to Sri Lanka as wellas all developing and developed countries. Though the government provides all healthfacilities free of charge at public hospitals, people have to bear the out-of-pocketexpenditure. The expenditure compared to other diseases is double the burden fromnon-communicable diseases||Based on a literature review, it was found that there is a lack of studies on theeconomic burden on households with individuals with non-communicable diseases,with specific reference to cancer in Sri Lanka. This study has focused on assessing theeconomic burden on households. In addition it has tried to identify the determinantseffect of the economic burden on households. This study focuses on the demographic,economic, and disease characteristics of patients. Identifying the major effects ofcancer is helpful for prioritizing policy options in order to reduce the burden onhouseholds. Furthermore, the analysis is concerned with the challenges faced bypatients in order to provide better policy options. Finally, based on the findings itprioritizes policy options.||Primary data were collected from a semi-structured questionnaire. After thepilot study, 400 respondents were selected using the stratified sampling method. Themixed method mainly, focused on the quantitative method, was adopted for the study.Qualitative analysis was used to triangulate the quantitative findings.||Both bivariate and multivariate analyses confirmed the same findings