Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries
Background: National health systems have different strengths and resilience levels. During the COVID-19 pandemic, resources often had to be reallocated and this impacted the availability of healthcare services in many countries. To date there have been few quantitative contemporary studies of inequa...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BioMed Central
2024
|
| _version_ | 1817930689248493568 |
|---|---|
| author | Abel, ZDV Roope, LSJ Duch, R Clarke, PM |
| author_facet | Abel, ZDV Roope, LSJ Duch, R Clarke, PM |
| author_sort | Abel, ZDV |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Background: National health systems have different strengths and resilience levels. During the COVID-19 pandemic, resources often had to be reallocated and this impacted the availability of healthcare services in many countries. To date there have been few quantitative contemporary studies of inequalities in access to healthcare within and between countries. In this study, we aim to compare inequality within and between 16 economically diverse countries. Methods: Online surveys were conducted on 22 150 adults in 16 countries across six continents in 2022. Quota sampling and post-stratification weighting was used to obtain an age, gender, geographically, and educationally representative sample. The study assesses the differences in challenges in access to healthcare during the pandemic (for GP, surgical/clinical and digital GP services) using country-specific expanded health-needs-adjusted Erreygers’ concentration indices and compares these values between countries using a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Results: Results show wide variation in income-related challenges in access within countries for different types of care. For example, Erreygers’ concentration index for digital services in Colombia exhibited highly regressive inequality at 0·17, compared to Japan with an index of -0·15. Inequalities between countries were also evident, with Spearman rank coefficients of -0·69 and -0·65 (p-values of 0·003 and 0·006) for digital and surgical access, indicating that lower income countries had greater inequality in healthcare access challenges. Conclusion: During the pandemic, inequalities in challenges to accessing healthcare were greatest in low and middle-income countries. Digital technologies offer a reasonable means to address some of this inequality if adequate support is provided and accessible digital infrastructure exists. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:10:07Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:ad2bd4d9-8f0d-4341-afd5-de564646fb50 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:10:07Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | BioMed Central |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:ad2bd4d9-8f0d-4341-afd5-de564646fb502024-10-01T20:06:19ZAccess to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countriesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:ad2bd4d9-8f0d-4341-afd5-de564646fb50EnglishJisc Publications RouterBioMed Central2024Abel, ZDVRoope, LSJDuch, RClarke, PMBackground: National health systems have different strengths and resilience levels. During the COVID-19 pandemic, resources often had to be reallocated and this impacted the availability of healthcare services in many countries. To date there have been few quantitative contemporary studies of inequalities in access to healthcare within and between countries. In this study, we aim to compare inequality within and between 16 economically diverse countries. Methods: Online surveys were conducted on 22 150 adults in 16 countries across six continents in 2022. Quota sampling and post-stratification weighting was used to obtain an age, gender, geographically, and educationally representative sample. The study assesses the differences in challenges in access to healthcare during the pandemic (for GP, surgical/clinical and digital GP services) using country-specific expanded health-needs-adjusted Erreygers’ concentration indices and compares these values between countries using a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient. Results: Results show wide variation in income-related challenges in access within countries for different types of care. For example, Erreygers’ concentration index for digital services in Colombia exhibited highly regressive inequality at 0·17, compared to Japan with an index of -0·15. Inequalities between countries were also evident, with Spearman rank coefficients of -0·69 and -0·65 (p-values of 0·003 and 0·006) for digital and surgical access, indicating that lower income countries had greater inequality in healthcare access challenges. Conclusion: During the pandemic, inequalities in challenges to accessing healthcare were greatest in low and middle-income countries. Digital technologies offer a reasonable means to address some of this inequality if adequate support is provided and accessible digital infrastructure exists. |
| spellingShingle | Abel, ZDV Roope, LSJ Duch, R Clarke, PM Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| title | Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| title_full | Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| title_fullStr | Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| title_short | Access to healthcare services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional analysis of income and user-access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| title_sort | access to healthcare services during the covid 19 pandemic a cross sectional analysis of income and user access across 16 economically diverse countries |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT abelzdv accesstohealthcareservicesduringthecovid19pandemicacrosssectionalanalysisofincomeanduseraccessacross16economicallydiversecountries AT roopelsj accesstohealthcareservicesduringthecovid19pandemicacrosssectionalanalysisofincomeanduseraccessacross16economicallydiversecountries AT duchr accesstohealthcareservicesduringthecovid19pandemicacrosssectionalanalysisofincomeanduseraccessacross16economicallydiversecountries AT clarkepm accesstohealthcareservicesduringthecovid19pandemicacrosssectionalanalysisofincomeanduseraccessacross16economicallydiversecountries |