Abstract
Background: Multi-morbidity and its burden on the health systems of low- and middle-income countries
is on the increase worldwide. This health challenge is particularly relevant to South Africa with its
emergent epidemic of non-communicable disease. This paper investigates gender-based inequalities in
non-communicable disease multi-morbidity in South African adults.
Methods: The study applies decomposition analysis to data from wave 5 of South Africa’s nationally
representative National Income Dynamics Study. Non-linear Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition is
employed to determine how compositional and behavioural effects of various covariates contribute to
gender differences in multi-morbidity. Erreygers concentration indices are constructed for men and
women separately. Wagstaff decomposition is used to establish the contribution of various factors to
these gender-based income inequalities in multi-morbidity.