The Immediate Effect of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Wellbeing in Uganda. A comparison of Household Groups.

Abstract

This thesis examines the immediate effect of COVID-19 on household poverty, expenditure on food, and expenditure on health. Using the Uganda National Household Survey of 2019-20, households in the comparison group and treatment group are compared. Logit regressions are estimated in examining household poverty. The ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regressions (QR) are estimated in examining expenditure on food and health. The logit regressions reveal that households in the treatment group are more likely to be poor compared to households in the comparison group. OLS and QR regression results reveal that the households in the treatment spent more on food and less on health compared to households in the comparison group. This thesis recommends establishing a national health insurance scheme to mitigate against the high out-of-pocket expenditure and also developing social safety nets to shield households from future income shocks.