Willingness to Pay for Insecticide Impregnated Bed Nets: The Case of Selected Rural Kebeles in Ilu Woreda of Western Shoa Zone

Abstract

The use of insecticide impregnated bed nets is one of the available means to protect households against infective mosquito bites. This paper, therefore, is directed towards estimating households’ willingness to pay for such bed nets in one of malaria prone areas of Western Shoa Zone. The empirical findings reveal that the mean willingness to pay for a medium size insecticide impregnated bed net is Birr 44.26 if sold in cash and Birr 65.05 if provided on credit basis. These figures, however, are much lower than the current price of bed nets, which ranges between Birr 100 and 130. Moreover, households are willing to buy only one bed net in the former case and two in the latter case. Households’ characteristics, burden of malaria on households and income are among the major factors influencing the willingness to pay decisions. Particularly, as the extremely low income of the society highly limits the use of bed nets, it calls for a support scheme in order to reduce the burden of malaria on rural households.