Bulletin of the World Health Organization

Effects of mutual health organizations on use of priority health-care services in urban and rural Mali: a case–control study

Lynne Miller Franco, François Pathé Diop, Clara R Burgert, Allison Gamble Kelley, Marty Makinen, Cheick Hamed Tidiane Simpara

Volume 86, Number 11, November 2008, 830-838

Table 3. Household characteristics in areas served by MHOs and a control area without MHOs, Mali, 2003–2004

Characteristic Household membership in MHO
 Total n = 2 280
MHO member n = 817 MHO non-member in MHO catchment area n = 787 Control n = 676
Head of household
Age in years* (%)
≤ 24 3 6 4 5
25–34 17 27 31 28
35–49 39 37 34 36
≥ 50 41 30 31 31
Educational level*** (%)
No education 26 43 61 49
Primary 43 47 38 43
Secondary 31 11 1 8
Ethnic group*** (%)
Bambara 18 29 64 42
Senofo 43 34 10 25
Other 39 37 26 33
Female*** (%) 21 6 2 5
Occupation*** (%)
None 21 17 10 15
Agriculture 21 25 83 48
Commerce 55 54 6 35
Other 3 4 1 3
Household
Mean size 7.0*** 6.0*** 6.6*** 6.3
Mean number women 15–49 years old 1.7*** 1.4 1.4 1.4
Mean number children < 5 years old 0.9** 1.1** 1.4*** 1.2
Religion (%)
Muslim 97 97 95 95
Other 3 3 5 5
Kilometers to health facilitya*** (%)
< 1 88 77 30 59
2–5 8 13 23 17
6–10 1 8 32 17
≥ 11 3 2 14 7
Residence*** (%)
Rural 10 19 100 50
Small urban 13 14 0 9
Large urban 77 67 0 41
Mean per capita incomeb
CFA francs 283 738 227 644 121 097 188 409
US$ 538 432 230 358
Household wealth (consumption quintiles)c** (%)
Poor 5 12 33 20
Middle poor 12 16 27 20
Middle 17 21 19 20
Middle rich 25 24 14 20
Rich 41 27 7 20

*P < 0.10; **P < 0.05; ***P < 0.001. MHO, mutual health organization.a Distance to the closest health facility is self-reported.b Mean income was calculated based on family consumption divided by household size. US$ 1 = 527 CFA francs at the time of the survey in 2004.c Income quintiles were determined by dividing the total study population in the 5 equally sized income groups.