Child disability and siblings' healthcare expenditures in a context of child fostering

- The disability of a child increases spending on his/her health by XAF 204.
- The effect of disability is the same for foster and non-foster disabled children.
- Living with a disabled child has no effect on healthcare expenditures on a child's.
- Having a disabled true sibling reduces healthcare expenditures on a child by XAF 102.

Many studies have assessed the impact of disability on healthcare expenditures for the disabled child, but practically none has considered the externalities of a child's disability in terms of healthcare expenditures for his/her siblings. This study therefore seeks to measure the impact of a child's disability on the allocation of healthcare expenditures among children of a household. It uses data from the 2011 Demographic Health and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (DHS-MICS) conducted in Cameroon by the National Statistics Institute (INS), with support from UNFPA, UNICEF, the World Bank and USAID. The disability module of the survey was administered to 17,864 children under age 18. Multivariate analyses (two-part model with logistic then GLM regression) showed that a disability significantly increases the monthly healthcare expenditures for the disabled child by XAF 204. This effect does not differ significantly whether or not the disabled child is fostered (does not live with his/her mother). Living with a disabled child has no impact on healthcare expenditures of a child. However, if the child is a true sibling (same mother), having a disabled sibling reduces the healthcare expenditures allocated to that child by XAF 102. Childhood disability therefore has a potentially wider effect on the health of siblings.