Economic Cost of Treatment of Violence and Consequences among Adolescents
MD Ughasoro, OE Onwujekwe, OH Ughasoro, CA Onyema, JM AlkasimBackground:
Nigeria has a teeming population of adolescents who experience a high incidence of violence: physical, sexual and verbal abuses. Despite this high prevalence, there is limited intervention designed to control violence. One key piece of information lacking is the cost evaluation of violence among adolescents.
Aim:
This study aims to evaluate the economic cost of violence among adolescents in Southeast Nigeria.
Methods:
The study was cross-sectional, conducted among adolescents in schools in Umuahia. A questionnaire administered during the interview was used to collect data. Data entered and analyzed using SPSS (IBM Corp, Armonk, New York, USA).
Results:
The mean medical cost of violence against adolescents was USD$19.4, and the mean lost productivity was USD$46.6. The mean total cost was USD$64.6. The annualized national cost of violence among adolescents was USD$1.4 billion. The households that experienced catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) were 48%. The 37 of urban dwellers (48.1%) and 26 of poor households (36.1%) experienced more CHE compared to the 35 of rural dwellers (47.9%) and the 11.1% of least poor households experienced CHE. The difference was statistically significant (
Conclusion:
The high debilitating cost impact of violence among adolescents on the households, as well as the high negative cost impact on national productivity. The high annualized national cost of violence is far less than the cost of a major violence control intervention. Thus, it will be wiser to release a significantly smaller amount for control interventions.