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The Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR) investigated the frequency and causes of absenteeism of public-sector health care workers. More than half of Kenya’s health budget goes to paying salaries. IPAR researchers suspected that a substantial proportion of this money is wasted because of high absenteeism, but found few systematic studies of the cost of or reasons for absenteeism. Researchers examined absenteeism at 40 health facilities of different types in Machakos, a mixed urban-rural district in Kenya’s Eastern province, and found that absenteeism is indeed widespread—the average rate was 25 percent—and that absenteeism was higher among more skilled workers, such as doctors and pharmacists, who can presumably earn much more in the private sector. Researchers estimate that these absences cost the government KES 6,659,832, or about $85,000, a month.