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Direct subsidization of healthcare services has been widely used in many countries to improve health outcomes. It is commonly believed that the poor are the main beneficiaries from these subsidies. We test this hypothesis in Egypt by empirically analyzing the distribution of public healthcare subsidies using data from Egypt Demographic and Health Survey and Egypt National Health Accounts. To determine the distribution of public health care subsidies, we conducted a Benefit Incidence Analysis. As a robustness check, both concentration and Kakwani indices for outpatient, inpatient, and total healthcare were also calculated. Results show some degree of inequality in the benefits from public healthcare services, which varied by the type of healthcare provided. In particular, subsidies associated with University hospitals are pro-rich and have inequality increasing effect, while subsidies associated with outpatient and inpatient care provided by the Ministry of Health and Population have not been pro-poor but have inequality reducing effect (weakly progressive). Results were robust to the different analytical methods. While it is widely perceived that the poor benefit the most from health subsidies, the findings of this study refute this hypothesis in the case of Egypt. Poverty reduction measures and healthcare reforms in Egypt should not only focus on expanding the coverage of healthcare benefits, but also on improving the equity of its distribution.

Purpose
This study aims to analyze whether precarious employment is associated with youth mental health, self-rated health and happiness in marriage and whether this association differs by sex.


Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses longitudinal data from the Survey of Young People in Egypt conducted in 2009 and 2014 and estimates a fixed-effects model to control for time-invariant unobserved individual heterogeneity. The analysis is segregated by sex.


Findings
The results indicate that precarious employment is significantly associated with poor mental health and less happiness in marriage for males and is positively associated with poor self-reported health for females. The adverse impact of precarious work is likely to be mediated through poor working conditions such as low salary, maltreatment at work, job insecurity and harassment from colleagues.


Social implications
Governmental policies that tackle job precariousness are expected to improve population health and marital welfare.


Originality/value
Egypt has witnessed a significant increase in the prevalence of precarious employment, particularly among youth, in recent decades, yet the evidence on its effect on the health and well-being of youth workers is sparse. This paper adds to the extant literature by providing new evidence on the social and health repercussions of job precariousness from an understudied region.

AbstractWe examine the socioeconomic inequalities in maternity care utilization in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen after the Arab Spring. The level of inequality is severe in Yemen, moderate in Egypt and minor in Jordan. Socioeconomic disparities in maternity care utilization are mainly a result of the lack of economic resources and its correlates among the poor. The political instability in the region did not hinder Egypt and Jordan from improving maternal health indicators at the national level. Increasing women education and poverty reduction measures focusing on rural communities could help narrow the inequalities in maternity care and hence improves population health outcomes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.