Socioeconomic inequalities in the access to and quality of health care services

OBJECTIVE

To assess the inequalities in access, utilization, and quality of health care services according to the socioeconomic status.

METHODS

This population-based cross-sectional study evaluated 2,927 individuals aged ≥ 20 years living in Pelotas, RS, Southern Brazil, in 2012. The associations between socioeconomic indicators and the following outcomes were evaluated: lack of access to health services, utilization of services, waiting period (in days) for assistance, and waiting time (in hours) in lines. We used Poisson regression for the crude and adjusted analyses.

RESULTS

The lack of access to health services was reported by 6.5% of the individuals who sought health care. The prevalence of use of health care services in the 30 days prior to the interview was 29.3%. Of these, 26.4% waited five days or more to receive care and 32.1% waited at least an hour in lines. Approximately 50.0% of the health care services were funded through the Unified Health System. The use of health care services was similar across socioeconomic groups. The lack of access to health care services and waiting time in lines were higher among individuals of lower economic status, even after adjusting for health care needs. The waiting period to receive care was higher among those with higher socioeconomic status.

CONCLUSIONS

Although no differences were observed in the use of health care services across socioeconomic groups, inequalities were evident in the access to and quality of these services.     

Government health insurance and privatization: an examination of the concept and of equity.

After almost a century of the evolution of welfare capitalism in the liberal-democratic countries, and the spread of government intervention in the financing and provision of health services, the debate is now whether or not government can, or should, be as all-encompassing as it has clearly become. What is emerging with greater force is a pattern of private insurance and private provision, though its future is not easy to predict. What is clear, however, is that a modified version of a politically acceptable concept of equity will have to be formulated.     

The impact of a mosquito net voucher subsidy programme on incremental ownership: The case of the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme

The subsidisation of mosquito nets has been widely used to increase ownership in countries where malaria represents a public health problem. However, an important question that has not been addressed empirically is how far net subsidy programmes increase ownership above the level that would have prevailed in the absence of the subsidy (i.e., incremental ownership). This study addresses that gap by investigating the impact of a large‐scale mosquito net voucher subsidy––the Tanzania National Voucher Scheme (TNVS)––on short‐term demand for unsubsidised commercial nets, estimating a household demand model with nationally representative household survey data. The results suggest that, despite the TNVS using a categorical targeting approach that did not discriminate by wealth, it still led to a large increase in incremental ownership of mosquito nets, with limited evidence of displacement of unsubsidised sales. Although no evidence is found of an additional TNVS voucher decreasing the number of unsubsidised sales in the same period, results indicate that an additional TNVS voucher reduced the probability of purchasing any unsubsidised net in the same period by 14%. The findings also highlight the critical role played by social learning or campaign messaging in increasing mosquito net ownership.     

The management of health services in Tanzania: a plea for health sector reform

There are essentially four main approaches used in attempts to strengthen the management of health services in developing countries. These are: information system development; management training; use of planning and evaluation methodologies; and, health sector reform. As part of a collaborative research project based in Kisarawe District, Tanzania, we tested the hypothesis that a combination of the first three of these approaches would be sufficient to ensure that decisions and actions were taken to bring about major improvements in the management of health services. It was assumed that the decentralization, which took place as part of the 1982 reorganization of local government responsibilities, had provided managers with sufficient decision-making autonomy to allow them to bring about improvement in health service performance, provided that the other conditions were met. In fact, it was found that despite being presented with clear evidence of serious inefficiencies and inequities in the allocation of health resources, managers were often highly reluctant to decide upon actions which would alleviate the problems in situations where there were potential losers as well as winners, even if the benefits greatly outweighed the costs. This article argues that interventions based solely on training, information systems, or planning and evaluation protocols will make only marginal improvements to health service management, and that changes to the system as a whole are needed in order to provide managers and health professionals with incentives to rectify performance failings. Some ideas for health sector reform, to give managers power and incentives for improving efficiency and quality of care, are put forward. Since it is likely that the systemic problems of the health sector in Tanzania are shared by many other developing countries, the lessons drawn from this study probably have more general applicability.     

卫生服务公平性研究的理论与现实意义

章解释了公平性的定义和内涵,并对国际上关于卫生服务公平性的分类与评价标准进行了介绍,结合我国卫生服务的发展现状,分析了导致我国卫生服务公平性日益突出的社会经济因素,提出了在我国进行卫生服务公平性研究的重要性和必要性。     

美国医疗改革及对我国的启示

医疗费用持续高涨、卫生可及性和卫生公平性等问题一直困扰着美国政府,2009年的金融危机更是使美国的医疗体制雪上加霜,这也进一步坚定了奥巴马政府实施医疗改革的决心。美国医疗改革的主要措施为:扩大医疗保险的覆盖面,制订有利于弱势群体的医疗保险政策;扩大筹资范围,缩减不必要的医疗费用开支;提高医疗服务质量等。然而,在经济环境的恶化以及来自利益集团的多重压力下,美国的医疗改革不可能解决医疗体制中存在的根本性问题。美国的经验告诉我们,一个国家的经济发展水平不是卫生公平的必要条件,构建一个医疗资源分配合理、医疗保险制度完善、医疗服务质量与效率高、医疗费用合理的公共医疗服务体系才是公民平等享有健康权利的关键。     

Health care access and the Americans with Disabilities Act: A mixed methods study

BackgroundThe Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that health care entities provide full and equal access to people with disabilities. However, results of previous studies have indicated that the ADA has been largely ineffective at creating systemic change in the delivery of health care.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the current barriers to health care access experienced by people with disabilities under Titles II and III of the ADA.MethodsThis study utilized a mixed methods multiphase design. In phase one, a survey and focus groups were conducted with individuals with disabilities who experienced barriers to health care access. In phase two, key informant interviews were conducted with individuals who had a role in ensuring equal access to health care for people with disabilities.ResultsIn the current context of health care reform, people with disabilities continue to experience multiple barriers to health care access under Titles II and III of the ADA. However, a notable result is that several provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) have likely bolstered existing directives implementing requirements for health care access under the ADA.ConclusionsThe results of this study provide additional support for a comprehensive examination of both the national standards for accessible health care and the enforcement of laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability.     

Contextualising health seeking behaviours for febrile illness: Lived experiences of farmers in northern Tanzania

Understanding how people seek treatment for febrile illness can provide important insights into when care is sought and under what circumstances. This is includes examining how people engage with health facilities and the barriers to care they experience. However, a focus on individual actions runs the risk of overemphasising the agency of individuals to make apt health decisions while underestimating the ways which health behaviours are circumscribed by their place-specific social, historic and political contexts. Drawing on the experiences of approximately 100 farmers in a small livestock keeping community in northern Tanzania, this study uses biosocial theory of health to better understand how febrile illness is managed among individuals. The paper draws attention to the ways in which health decisions are mediated by individual, intrinsic and extrinsic health system factors. Some extrinsic factors (such as hospital user fees) are legacies of neoliberal healthcare reform policies which continue to have consequences for how people manage febrile illness in Tanzania. The findings highlight the need for considerations of health behaviours to look beyond the individual and to appreciate the role of the wider health landscape in influencing individual choice and agency when seeking treatment for illness.     

威海市农村居民卫生服务公平性研究

目的：根据威海市居民健康状况调查资料，评价不同收入水平农村居民卫生服务公平性。采用Gini系数和Lorenz曲线评价收入分配的公平性；集中指数、集中曲线、利用／需要比等指标描述卫生服务的公平性。结果显示不同收入水平人群健康分布存在不公平；低收入人群卫生服务需要的满足程度仍受到限制。     

Deported Mexican migrants: health status and access to care

OBJECTIVE

To describe the health status and access to care of forced-return Mexican migrants deported through the Mexico-United States border and to compare it with the situation of voluntary-return migrants.

METHODS

Secondary data analysis from the Survey on Migration in Mexico’s Northern Border from 2012. This is a continuous survey, designed to describe migration flows between Mexico and the United States, with a mobile-population sampling design. We analyzed indicators of health and access to care among deported migrants, and compare them with voluntary-return migrants. Our analysis sample included 2,680 voluntary-return migrants, and 6,862 deportees. We employ an ordinal multiple logistic regression model, to compare the adjusted odds of having worst self-reported health between the studied groups.

RESULTS

As compared to voluntary-return migrants, deportees were less likely to have medical insurance in the United States (OR = 0.05; 95%CI 0.04;0.06). In the regression model a poorer self-perceived health was found to be associated with having been deported (OR = 1.71, 95%CI 1.52;1.92), as well as age (OR = 1.03, 95%CI 1.02;1.03) and years of education (OR = 0.94 95%CI 0.93;0.95).

CONCLUSIONS

According to our results, deportees had less access to care while in the United States, as compared with voluntary-return migrants. Our results also showed an independent and statistically significant association between deportation and having poorer self-perceived health. To promote the health and access to care of deported Mexican migrants coming back from the United States, new health and social policies are required.     

The financial burden of malaria in Tanzania: implications for future government policy

Malaria is the cause of more mortality and morbidity in Tanzania than any other disease, in large part due to growing resistance to anti-malarial drugs. This study estimates that over 1% of GDP is devoted to the disease, representing US$2.2 per capita, and 39% of total health expenditure nationally. Government facilities devote almost one-third of their resources to the disease. Private expenditure, primarily on drugs, coils, sprays and bed-nets, represents 71% of total expenditures. Given the dominance of malaria treatment outside Government facilities, strategies to control behaviour in the private sector are critical. Together with regulations on private providers, and other interventions such as promoting the use of bed-nets in rural areas, greater research into and use of information strategies is required. Public policies should be designed to influence behaviour, to encourage households to seek adequate diagnosis of fever and to complete appropriate treatment with the right drugs.     

Access and utilisation of healthcare services in rural Tanzania: A comparison of public and non-public facilities using quality,equity, and trust dimensions

This study compared the access and utilisation of health services in public and non-public health facilities in terms of quality, equity and trust in the Mbarali district, Tanzania. Interviews, focus group discussions, and informal discussions were used to generate data. Of the 1836 respondents, 1157 and 679 respondents sought healthcare services on their last visit at public or non-public health facilities, respectively. While 45.5% rated the quality of services to be good in both types of facilities, reported medicine shortages were more pronounced among those who visited public rather than non-public health facilities (OR?=?1.7, 95% CI 1.4, 2.1). Respondents who visited public facilities were 4.9 times less likely than those who visited non-public facilities to emphasise the influence of cost in accessing and utilising health care (OR?=?4.9, CI 3.9–6.1). A significant difference was also found in the provider–client relationship satisfaction level between non-public (89.1%) and public facilities (74.7%) (OR?=?2.8, CI: 1.5–5.0), indicating a level of lower trust in the later. Revised strategies are needed to ensure availability of medicines in public facilities, which are used by the majority of the population, while strengthening private–public partnerships to harmonise healthcare costs.     

Refugee participation in health relief services during the post-emergency phase in Tanzania

INTRODUCTION: While community participation in health activities has been examined extensively after Alma-Ata, few studies have focused on beneficiary participation in health services in a humanitarian disaster relief programme. This research scrutinized refugee participation in encamped health services, explored its achievement, and identified the further needs of refugees in pursuit of enhanced health services in the camp. METHODS: The study was performed at Lugufu Camp, Tanzania, where a health information team (HIT) of Congolese refugees actively participated in health services. Structured questionnaires were used for this cross-sectional observational study, covering three types of respondents: i.e. (1) systematically selected refugee community members (n=576); (2) all HIT members (n=48); and all Tanzanian health staff in charge of preventive health (n=17). Additional information was also collected through focus group discussions. RESULTS: HIT refugees used their own health initiatives, which resulted in a growth of self-confidence. There was an evidence of benefits, especially in promoting health education, affirmed by an almost established consensus among the refugee community, Tanzanian health staff and HIT members themselves. However, refugee community members who did not know any HIT members had less positive health-seeking behaviours than those who knew one or more HIT members, thus showing a need for further dissemination of HIT services. CONCLUSIONS: Participation in the health services led the HIT refugees to regain the sense that they could contribute to solving peers' health problems with their own knowledge and services, and by working together as a team. Beneficiary participation is a dynamic process that heightened responsibility and health consciousness, along with a concomitant gain in power over their destiny.     

Beyond coverage: Rural-urban disparities in the timeliness of childhood vaccinations in Tanzania

BackgroundTimely vaccination maximizes efficacy for preventing infectious diseases. In the absence of national vaccination registries, representative sample survey data hold vital information on vaccination coverage and timeliness. This study characterizes vaccination coverage and timeliness in Tanzania and provides an analytic template to inform contextually relevant interventions and evaluate immunization programs.MethodsCross-sectional data on 6,092 children under age 3 from the 2015–16 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey were used to examine coverage and timeliness for 14 vaccine doses recommended in the first year of life. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to model time to vaccination. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine factors associated with timely vaccination.ResultsSubstantial rural–urban disparities in vaccination coverage and timeliness were observed for all vaccines. Across 14 recommended doses, documented coverage ranged from 52 % to 79 %. Median vaccination delays lasted up to 35 days; gaps were larger among rural than urban children and for later doses in vaccine series. Among rural children, median delays exceeded 35 days for the 3^rd doses of the polio, pentavalent, and pneumococcal vaccines. Median delays among urban children were < 21 days for all doses. Among rural and urban children, lower maternal education and delivery at home were associated with increased risk of delayed vaccination. In rural settings, less household wealth and greater distance to a health facility were also associated with increased risk of delayed vaccination.DiscussionThis study highlights persistent gaps in uptake and timeliness of childhood vaccinations in Tanzania and substantial rural–urban disparities. While the results provide an informative situation assessment and outline strategies for identifying unvaccinated children, a national electronic registry is critical for comprehensive assessments of the performance of vaccination programs. The timeliness measure employed in this study—the amount of time children are un- or undervaccinated—may serve as a sensitive performance metric for these programs.     

The perceived impact of privatization on local health departments

OBJECTIVES: This article presents nationally representative data on the effects of privatization on local health departments (LHDs). METHODS: A stratified representative national sample of 380 LHDs was drawn from a national list of 2488 departments. Telephone interviews were conducted with 347 LHD directors. RESULTS: One half of the directors of LHDs with privatized services reported that privatization helped the performance of core functions. Privatization often resulted in increased time needed for management and administration. More than a third of LHD directors reported concern about loss of control over the performance of privatized functions and services. CONCLUSIONS: Privatization is part of a broader shift toward "managing" rather than directly providing public health services, yet privatization often reduces LHDs' control over the performance of services.     

2000～2008年广西县级卫生资源配置的公平性研究

目的 对广西2000 ～ 2008年县级卫生资源配置的公平性进行分析.方法 采用洛伦茨曲线(Lorenz curve)和基尼系数(Gini coefficient)等方法,从人口和地理分布对广西91个县域卫生资源(床位、卫生技术人员、医生)的配置状况与公平性进行分析.结果 2000～2008年广西县级各种卫生资源按人口分布的基尼系数位于0.15 ～0.30之间,按地理分布的基尼系数位于0.25 ～0.40之间.结论 广西县级卫生资源的配置水平远低于广西及全国总体水平,广西县级各种卫生资源配置的公平性较好,其中人口分布优于地理分布;各种卫生资源配置的公平性呈下降趋势.应进一步加大县级卫生资源的投入力度,同时兼顾公平,不断提高卫生资源在人口和地理配置的公平性.     

Factors associated with lack of prenatal care in a large municipality

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the factors associated with a lack of prenatal care in a large municipality in southern Brazil.

METHODS

In this case-control age-matched study, 716 women were evaluated; of these, 179 did not receive prenatal care and 537 received prenatal care (controls). These women were identified using the Sistema Nacional de Informação sobre Nascidos Vivos (Live Birth Information System) of Pelotas, RS, Southern Brazil, between 2009 and 2010. Multivariate analysis was performed using conditional logistic regression to estimate the odds ratios (OR).

RESULTS

In the final model, the variables associated with a lack of prenatal care were the level of education, particularly when it was lesser than four years [OR 4.46; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.92;10.36], being single (OR 3.61; 95%CI 1.85;7.04), and multiparity (OR 2.89; 95%CI 1.72;4.85). The prevalence of a lack of prenatal care among administrative regions varied between 0.7% and 3.9%.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk factors identified must be considered when planning actions for the inclusion of women in prenatal care by both the central management and healthcare teams. These indicated the municipal areas with greater deficits in prenatal care. The reorganization of the actions to identify women with risk factors in the community can be considered to be a starting point of this process. In addition, the integration of the activities of local programs that target the mother and child is essential to constantly identify pregnant women without prenatal care.