Willingness to pay and benefit-cost analysis of modern contraceptives in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To determine the willingness to pay (WTP) and the benefit-cost of modern contraceptives delivered through the public sector in Nigeria. METHODS Data were collected from 4517 randomly selected households. The WTP for the 6 major contraceptive methods available in the public sector was elicited. Logistic regression was used to determine whether the decision to state a positive WTP amount was valid; Tobit regression was used to test the validity of the elicited WTP amounts. For each contraceptive, 3 BCR values were computed, based on the official unit price, the unit cost per couple-year of protection (CYP), and the average actual expenditure for contraceptives in the month preceding the interview. RESULTS The mean WTP for the different contraceptives varied by socioeconomic status and geographic (urban versus rural) location (P<0.01). The BCR analysis showed that the benefits of providing contraceptives through the public sector far outweighed the costs, except for female condoms, where the CYP-based BCR was 0.9. CONCLUSION The benefits of providing contraceptives outweigh the costs, making public sector investment worthwhile. The median WTP amounts, which reflect the ideal upper thresholds for pricing, indicate that cost recovery is feasible for all contraceptives.