Access to Health Insurance in Zimbabwe and associated factors: Insights from data from the Zimbabwe Demographic Health survey, 2015 

Objective: To determine factors associated with access to health insurance among adults in Zimbabwe. Methods: : We used statistical analysis to determine the association between various variables and access to health insurance using the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey, 2015-16 data. Results: : Overall, only 11% of 7397 females and 12% of 7420 males included in the analysis had access to health insurance. Age, educational level, marital status, religion, area of residence and wealth quintile were associated with access to health insurance for both females and males. For females, HIV status was associated with access to health insurance. Although not statistically significant a smaller proportion of HIV positive males (10%) had access to any medical insurance compared to their HIV negative counterparts (12%), p=0.189. Conclusion: Our study showed that geospatial distribution of individuals with access to health insurance in Zimbabwe is concentrated around urban areas. Since the bulk of Zimbabweans do not have access to health insurance and mainly use the public health sector for services, there is need for the Ministry of Health to enhance its investment in these facilities so that the bulk of the population can also get quality healthcare.