As countries develop economically, an 'epidemiological transition' occurs whereby a set of chronic diseases increasingly becomes a country’s health challenge. In that context, proper and timely access to healthcare services becomes an imperative.

Against this background, this project addressed two particular issues: (i) first, the project examined the causes of some of the most prevalent chronic diseases, whilst paying particular attention to the diabetes/obesity/hypertension nexus; (ii) second, the project studied the main determinants of the access to, utilisation of and satisfaction with the healthcare system in Kuwait.

Meeting these two objectives is necessary and timely. The rapid urbanisation and modernisation that Kuwait witnessed over the last few decades, coupled with increased inactivity, heightened tobacco use and unhealthy diet have all resulted in increased obesity and hypertension, which in turn are the two leading causes of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Hence, shedding more light on the link between the risk factors and some of the chronic diseases enumerated above was crucial. Furthermore, further unearthing the link between access, utilisation and satisfaction with healthcare services and their determinants was important, as it could help distil the results into policy actions aimed at improving the quality of the Kuwaiti healthcare system.

Principal Investigator

Zlatko Nikoloski

Zlatko is a development economist. He is Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at LSE Health and Social Care.