Las desigualdades económicas que representan obstáculos para buscar servicios de salud en cuatro países de América Latina Desigualdades socioecon?micas no acesso a servi?os de saúde em quatro países da América Latina

摘要

Objective. To present summary measures of socioeconomic inequalities in access barriers to health servicesin Colombia, El Salvador, Paraguay, and Peru.Methods. This cross-sectional study used data from nationally - representative household surveys in Colombia, El Salvador, Peru, and Paraguay to analyze income-related inequalities in barriers to seeking healthservices. Households that reported having a health problem (disease/accident) and not seeking professionalhealth care were considered to be facing access barriers. The measures of inequality were the slope index ofinequality and relative index of inequality.Results. Inequality trends were mixed across the four countries. All showed improvement, but large inequalitygaps persisted between the highest and lowest income quintiles, despite health care reforms. Relative inequality gaps were highest in Colombia (60%), followed by Paraguay (30%), Peru (20%), and El Salvador (20%).Conclusions. The effect of national policy initiatives on equity to accessing health services should be theobject of future analysis. There is also a need for research on national and regional monitoring of access barriers and explanatory factors for why people do not seek care, even when having a health problem.