Need for and Access to Health Care and Medicines: Are There Gender Inequities?

Autor: Dennis Ross-Degnan, Amy J. Graves, Zhengyu Fan, Anita K. Wagner, Fang Zhang, Saul Walker
Rok vydání: 2013
Předmět:
Male
Gerontology
Non-Clinical Medicine
lcsh:Medicine
Global Health
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Health Services Accessibility
Sociology
Risk Factors
Health care
Global health
Young adult
lcsh:Science
Empowerment
media_common
Multidisciplinary
Statistics
Social Discrimination
Middle Aged
Child
Preschool
Medicine
Female
Public Health
Research Article
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Adolescent
Clinical Research Design
Gender Discrimination
media_common.quotation_subject
Biostatistics
Sexual and Gender Issues
Young Adult
Sex Factors
Environmental health
medicine
Humans
Healthcare Disparities
Poverty
Curative care
Aged
Health Services Needs and Demand
Survey Research
Health Care Policy
business.industry
Public health
lcsh:R
Infant
Newborn
Infant
Drug Policy
Logistic Models
Health Care Surveys
Multivariate Analysis
lcsh:Q
business
Mathematics
Zdroj: PLoS ONE, Vol 8, Iss 3, p e57228 (2013)
PLoS ONE
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: Objective Differences between women and men in political and economic empowerment, education, and health risks are well-documented. Similar gender inequities in access to care and medicines have been hypothesized but evidence is lacking. Methods We analyzed 2002 World Health Survey data for 257,922 adult respondents and 80,932 children less than 5 years old from 53 mostly low and middle-income countries. We constructed indicators of need for, access to, and perceptions of care, and we described the number of countries with equal and statistically different proportions of women and men for each indicator. Using multivariate logistic regression models, we estimated effects of gender on our study outcomes, overall and by household poverty. Findings Women reported significantly more need for care for three of six chronic conditions surveyed, and they were more likely to have at least one of the conditions (OR 1.41 [95% CI 1.38, 1.44]). Among those with reported need for care, there were no consistent differences in access to care between women and men overall (e.g., treatment for all reported chronic conditions, OR 1.00 [0.96, 1.04]) or by household poverty. Of concern, access to care for chronic conditions was distressingly low among both men and women in many countries, as was access to preventive services among boys and girls less than 5 years old. Conclusions These cross-country results do not suggest a systematic disadvantage of women in access to curative care and medicines for treating selected chronic conditions or acute symptoms, or to preventive services among boys and girls.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz: