Willingness to pay for footwear, and associated factors related to podoconiosis in northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND In Northern Ethiopia, use of footwear by the rural community is limited, and non-governmental organizations provide footwear for school children as a means of preventing podoconiosis. However, this is not a sustainable strategy. This study assessed willingness to pay for footwear among people with and without podoconiosis. METHODS A comparative cross-sectional community-based study was conducted in Mecha and Gozamen woredas among randomly selected people with and without podoconiosis. Trained health extension workers collected data using an interviewer-administered structured questionnaire. The data were entered into EPI-Data and exported to SPSS version 16.0 statistical software package for analysis. RESULTS The willingness to pay for footwear among people with and without podoconiosis was 72.3% and 76.7% respectively (p=0.30). People with podoconiosis in the lower quintiles of economic status were less likely to be willing to pay for footwear than those in the higher quintiles. CONCLUSIONS There is substantial willingness to pay for footwear. The expressed willingness to pay indicates demand for footwear in the community, suggesting an opportunity for shoe companies. There are still a substantial proportion of individuals not willing to pay for footwear. This requires intensified public education and social transformation to bring about change in behavior towards footwear use if elimination of podoconiosis within our generation is to be achieved.