Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Chinamasa, C. F.
Right arrow Articles by McEllduff, P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Chinamasa, C. F.
Right arrow Articles by McEllduff, P.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Occupational Medicine 2004;54:47-51
© Society of Occupational Medicine 2004; all rights reserved

Early retirement: does cause of invalidity influence rate of social security benefit processing in Zimbabwe?

C. F. Chinamasa, R. F. Heller and P. McEllduff

University of Manchester, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, Evidence for Population Health Unit, Manchester, UK

Background The social security invalidity benefit programme in Zimbabwe is organized through a network of regional offices. There are no standard guidelines for assessing invalidity.

Aim We tested whether cause of invalidity and place of residence influenced the rate of processing of invalidity benefit claims.

Method We carried out a retrospective cohort study involving 523 medically unadjudicated and a 25% (354/1431) random sample of medically adjudicated invalidity benefit claims at the Central Benefits Office of the National Social Security Authority in Zimbabwe. The outcome for the study was time from certification of invalidity to conclusion of medical adjudication of invalidity benefit claims.

Results Compared with tuberculosis, HIV disease increased the rate of progress to final medical adjudication 2.6-fold, musculoskeletal diseases 1.9-fold, physical injuries 1.7-fold and chronic diseases 1.8-fold after adjusting for place of residence, industrial sector, gender and age. Compared with residing in Harare, residing in Chinhoyi, Gweru, Masvingo and Mutare regions reduced the rate of progress to final medical adjudication by 62, 69, 51 and 56%, respectively, after adjusting for cause of invalidity, industrial sector, gender and age. Compared with invalidity benefit claims from the services sector, those from the mining sector experienced a 45% reduction in rate of progress to final medical adjudication after adjusting for cause of invalidity, place of residence, gender and age.

Conclusion Cause of invalidity, place of residence and industrial sector had significant influences on the rate of progress to final medical adjudication of invalidity benefit claims.

Keywords      Cause of invalidity; invalidity benefit claims; medical adjudication; rate of processing; social security; Zimbabwe

Received       10 March 2003
Revised         28 July 2003
Accepted        3 October 2003

Correspondence to: Dr Camillo F. Chinamasa, University of Manchester, School of Epidemiology and Health Sciences, Evidence for Population Health Unit, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK. E-mail: camillo.f.chinamasa{at}man.ac.uk


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.