Articles

“We’ve got through hard times before” : acute mental distress and coping among disadvantaged groups during COVID-19 lockdown in North India - a qualitative study

The COVID-19 crisis in India negatively impacted mental health due to both the disease and the harsh lockdown, yet there are almost no qualitative studies describing mental health impacts or the strategies of ...

Authors: Kaaren Mathias, Meenal Rawat, Sharad Philip and Nathan Grills

Seldom heard voices: a meta-narrative systematic review of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples healthcare experiences

It is well established that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations face considerable health inequities, exacerbated by poorer healthcare quality. Patient experience is recognised as a major contribu...

Authors: Benjamin Jones, David Heslop and Reema Harrison

Ease and equity of access to free DR-TB services in Nigeria- a qualitative analysis of policies, structures and processes

Persistent low rates of case notification and treatment coverage reflect that accessing diagnosis and treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) in Nigeria remains a challenge, even though it is provide...

Authors: Charity Oga-Omenka, Florence Bada, Aderonke Agbaje, Patrick Dakum, Dick Menzies and Christina Zarowsky

Strengthening social accountability in ways that build inclusion, institutionalization and scale: reflections on FHS experience

This editorial provides an introduction to the special issue on “Lessons about intervening in accountability ecosystems: implementation of community scorecards in Bangladesh and Uganda”. We start by describing...

Authors: Sara Bennett, Eizabeth Ekirapa-Kiracho, Shehrin Shaila Mahmood, Ligia Paina and David H. Peters

Different impacts of the zero-markup drug policy on county general and traditional Chinese medicine hospitals: evidence from Shandong province, China

As a key part of the new round of health reform, the zero-markup drug policy (ZMDP) removed the profit margins of drug sales at public health care facilities, and had some effects to the operation of these ins...

Authors: Xiaofeng Jiang, Ping He, Dawei Zhu, Xuefeng Shi and Qingyue Meng

Residential segregation, neighborhood violence and disorder, and inequalities in anxiety among Jewish and Palestinian-Arab perinatal women in Israel

Residential segregation can foster health inequality mechanisms by increasing stress related to neighborhood violence and disorder.

Authors: Nihaya Daoud, Samira Alfayumi-Zeadna, Aviad Tur-Sinai, Nabil Geraisy and Ilan Talmud

Understanding equity of institutional delivery in public health centre by level of care in India: an assessment using benefit incidence analysis

The National Health Mission (NHM), the largest ever publicly funded health programme worldwide, used over half of the national health budget in India and primarily aimed to improve maternal and child health in...

Authors: Sanjay K. Mohanty, Radhe Shyam Mishra, Suyash Mishra and Soumendu Sen

Social exclusion and universal health coverage: health care rights and citizen-led accountability in Guatemala and Peru

While equity is a central concern in promoting Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the impact of social exclusion on equity in UHC remains underexplored. This paper examines challenges faced by socially excluded ...

Authors: Jeannie Samuel, Walter Flores and Ariel Frisancho

Deaths of despair: cause-specific mortality and socioeconomic inequalities in cause-specific mortality among young men in Scotland

Increasing mortality among men from drugs, alcohol and suicides is a growing public health concern in many countries. Collectively known as “deaths of despair”, they are seen to stem from unprecedented economi...

Authors: Mirjam Allik, Denise Brown, Ruth Dundas and Alastair H. Leyland

Socioeconomic inequalities in the place of death in urban small areas of three Mediterranean cities

Dying at home is the most frequent preference of patients with advanced chronic conditions, their caregivers, and the general population. However, most deaths continue to occur in hospitals. The objective of t...

Authors: Andreu Nolasco, Manuel Fernández-Alcántara, Pamela Pereyra-Zamora, María José Cabañero-Martínez, José M. Copete, Adriana Oliva-Arocas and Julio Cabrero-García

Socioeconomic inequalities in hypertension in Kenya: a decomposition analysis of 2015 Kenya STEPwise survey on non-communicable diseases risk factors

One in four Kenyans aged 18–69 years have raised blood pressure. Despite this high prevalence of hypertension and known association between socioeconomic status and hypertension, there is limited understanding...

Authors: Samwel Maina Gatimu and Thomas Wiswa John

Coverage determinants of breast cancer screening in Flanders: an evaluation of the past decade

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women in the developed world. In order to find developing cancers in an early stage, BC screening is commonly used. In Flanders, screening is performed in and ou...

Authors: L. Ding, S. Jidkova, M. J. W. Greuter, K. Van Herck, M. Goossens, P. Martens, G. H. de Bock and G. Van Hal

Equity and efficiency of health care resource allocation in Jiangsu Province, China

Jiangsu was one of the first four pilot provinces to engage in comprehensive health care reform in China, which has been on-going for the past 5 years. This study aims to evaluate the equity, efficiency and pr...

Authors: Qian Li, Jianjun Wei, Fengchang Jiang, Guixiang Zhou, Rilei Jiang, Meijuan Chen, Xu Zhang and Wanjin Hu

Cultural respect in midwifery service provision for Aboriginal women: longitudinal follow-up reveals the enduring legacy of targeted program initiatives

Culturally competent maternity care provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women was identified as a priority area by Australia’s National Maternity Services Plan in 2011. While midwifery programs ...

Authors: Rosalie D. Thackrah, Jennifer Wood and Sandra C. Thompson

Social inequalities in breast cancer screening: evaluating written communications with immigrant Haitian women in Montreal

The province of Quebec (Canada) has implemented a breast cancer screening program to diagnose this cancer at an early stage. The strategy is to refer women 50 to 69 years old for a mammogram every two years by...

Authors: Marie-France Raynault, Christelle Féthière and Dominique Côté

Patterns of informal family care during acute hospitalization of older adults from different ethno-cultural groups in Israel

Informal caregiving during hospitalization of older adults is significantly related to hospital processes and patient outcomes. Studies in home settings demonstrate that ethno-cultural background is related to...

Authors: Ksenya Shulyaev, Nurit Gur-Yaish, Efrat Shadmi and Anna Zisberg

Income-related inequalities in unmet dental care needs in Spain: traces left by the Great Recession

Dental health is an important component of general health. Socioeconomic inequalities in unmet dental care needs have been identified in the literature, but some knowledge gaps persist. This paper tries to ide...

Authors: Rosa M. Urbanos-Garrido

Intersectionality and health-related stigma: insights from experiences of people living with stigmatized health conditions in Indonesia

Health-related stigma is a complex phenomenon, the experience of which intersects with those of other adversities arising from a diversity of social inequalities and oppressive identities like gender, sexualit...

Authors: Sarju Sing Rai, Ruth M. H. Peters, Elena V. Syurina, Irwanto Irwanto, Denise Naniche and Marjolein B. M. Zweekhorst

A cross sectional study of unmet need for health services amongst urban refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand in comparison with Thai population, 2019

Although the Thai government has introduced policies to promote the health of migrants, it is still the case that urban refugees and asylum seekers (URAS) seem to be neglected. This study aimed to explore the ...

Authors: Rapeepong Suphanchaimat, Pigunkaew Sinam, Mathudara Phaiyarom, Nareerut Pudpong, Sataporn Julchoo, Watinee Kunpeuk and Panithee Thammawijaya

Prices of medicines for the management of pain, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in private pharmacies and the national health insurance in Tanzania

High price is a major challenge limiting access to essential medicines especially among the poorest families in developing countries. The study aims to compare the prices of medicines used in the management of...

Authors: Rashid Bakari Kirua, Mary Justin Temu and Amani Thomas Mori

Why do some countries do better or worse in life expectancy relative to income? An analysis of Brazil, Ethiopia, and the United States of America

While in general a country’s life expectancy increases with national income, some countries “punch above their weight”, while some “punch below their weight” – achieving higher or lower life expectancy than wo...

Authors: Toby Freeman, Hailay Abrha Gesesew, Clare Bambra, Elsa Regina Justo Giugliani, Jennie Popay, David Sanders, James Macinko, Connie Musolino and Fran Baum

Mobile primary health care clinics for Indigenous populations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States: a systematic scoping review

Mobile clinics have been used to deliver primary health care to populations that otherwise experience difficulty in accessing services. Indigenous populations in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United ...

Authors: Hannah Beks, Geraldine Ewing, James A. Charles, Fiona Mitchell, Yin Paradies, Robyn A. Clark and Vincent L. Versace

Socio-economic and demographic factors associated with reproductive and child health preventive care in Mozambique: a cross-sectional study

Reproductive and child health interventions are essential to improving population health in Africa. In Mozambique, although some progress on reproductive and child health has been made, knowledge of social ine...

Authors: Chanvo Daca, Miguel San Sebastian, Carlos Arnaldo and Barbara Schumann

Fakes and chemicals: indigenous medicine in contemporary Kenya and implications for health equity

Access to effective biomedical treatments for humans and livestock in Kenya is far from universal. Indigenous healing has a significant role to play in contemporary society in Kenya, yet access is not the only...

Authors: Olivia Howland

Recommendation for response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Korean context of “distancing in daily life,” considering vulnerable population

While the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is an ongoing worldwide, including South Korea (hereinafter Korea), it is impossible to predict the duration of the pandemic. To stop the spread of COVID-...

Authors: Ja Young Kim, Jin-Ok Han and Heeyoung Lee

Inequities in mental health and mental healthcare between international immigrants and locals in Chile: a narrative review

Mental health in a context of international migration is a particularly pressing issue, as migration is recognised as a social determinant of physical and mental health. As Chile is increasingly becoming a rec...

Authors: Alice Blukacz, Báltica Cabieses and Niina Markkula

The effect of objective income and perceived economic resources on self-rated health

Several studies have demonstrated that self-rated health status is affected by socioeconomic variables. However, there is little knowledge about whether perceived economic resources affect people’s health. The...

Authors: Catia Cialani and Reza Mortazavi

Identifying the determinants of health insurance coverage among Peruvian women of reproductive age: an assessment based on the national Peruvian demographic survey of 2017

Like many other Latin America- and Caribbean countries, Peru has introduced a tax-financed health insurance scheme called “Sistema Integral de Salud (SIS)” to foster progress towards Universal Health Coverage....

Authors: Eduardo Ramos Rosas, Volker Winkler, Stephan Brenner and Manuela De Allegri

Maternal health challenges experienced by adolescents; could community score cards address them? A case study of Kibuku District– Uganda

Approximately 34.8% of the Ugandan population is adolescents. The national teenage pregnancy rate is 25% and in Kibuku district, 17.6% of adolescents aged 12–19 years have begun child bearing. Adolescents moth...

Authors: Rebecca R. Apolot, Moses Tetui, Evelyne B. Nyachwo, Linda Waldman, Rosemary Morgan, Christine Aanyu, Aloysius Mutebi, Suzanne N. Kiwanuka and Elizabeth Ekirapa

Feasibility, acceptability and initial outcome of implementing community scorecard to monitor community level public health facilities: experience from rural Bangladesh

Engaging communities in health facility management and monitoring is an effective strategy to increase health system responsiveness. Many developing countries have used community scorecard (CSC) to encourage c...

Authors: Shehrin Shaila Mahmood, Sabrina Rasheed, Asiful Haidar Chowdhury, Aazia Hossain, Mohammad Abdus Selim, Shahidul Hoque and Abbas Bhuiya

Do community scorecards improve utilisation of health services in community clinics: experience from a rural area of Bangladesh

The government of Bangladesh initiated community clinics (CC) to extend the reach of public health services and these facilities were planned to be run through community participation. However, utilisation of ...

Authors: S. M. A. Hanifi, Aazia Hossain, Asiful Haidar Chowdhury, Shahidul Hoque, Mohammad Abdus Selim, Shehrin Shaila Mahmood and Abbas Bhuiya

Influence of community scorecards on maternal and newborn health service delivery and utilization

The community score card (CSC) is a participatory monitoring and evaluation tool that has been employed to strengthen the mutual accountability of health system and community actors. In this paper we describe ...

Authors: Elizabeth Ekirapa Kiracho, Noel Namuhani, Rebecca Racheal Apolot, Christine Aanyu, Aloysuis Mutebi, Moses Tetui, Suzanne N. Kiwanuka, Faith Adong Ayen, Dennis Mwesige, Ahmed Bumbha, Ligia Paina and David H. Peters

Limited access to family-based addiction prevention services for socio-economically deprived families in Switzerland: a grounded theory study

Families living in poor socio-economic circumstances, already confronted with social and health inequalities, are often not reached by family-based addiction prevention services. Besides quantitative models an...

Authors: Andreas Pfister, Nikola Koschmieder and Sabrina Wyss

Theory driven analysis of social class and health outcomes using UK nationally representative longitudinal data

Social class is frequently used as a means of ranking the population to expose inequalities in health, but less often as a means of understanding the social processes of causation. We explored how effectively ...

Authors: Welcome Wami, Gerry McCartney, Mel Bartley, Duncan Buchanan, Ruth Dundas, Srinivasa Vittal Katikireddi, Rich Mitchell and David Walsh

An overview of reviews on strategies to reduce health inequalities

Governments are incentivized to develop and implement health action programs focused on equity to ensure progress with effective strategies or interventions.

Authors: Nathaly Garzón-Orjuela, Daniel Felipe Samacá-Samacá, Silvia Catalina Luque Angulo, Carmen Verônica Mendes Abdala, Ludovic Reveiz and Javier Eslava-Schmalbach

“Crazy person is crazy person. It doesn’t differentiate”: an exploration into Somali views of mental health and access to healthcare in an established UK Somali community

Mental health conditions have been shown to disproportionately affect those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. Somali communities globally have relatively high levels of mental illness, ...

Authors: Catherine Linney, Siyan Ye, Sabi Redwood, Abdi Mohamed, Abdullahi Farah, Lucy Biddle and Esther Crawley

One country, two crises: what Covid-19 reveals about health inequalities among BAME communities in the United Kingdom and the sustainability of its health system?

There has been mounting evidence of the disproportionate involvement of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK, this racial disparity was brought to the fore by...

Authors: Akaninyene Otu, Bright Opoku Ahinkorah, Edward Kwabena Ameyaw, Abdul-Aziz Seidu and Sanni Yaya

Changes in self-rated health and quality of life among Syrian refugees migrating to Norway: a prospective longitudinal study

Forced migrants can be exposed to various stressors that can impact their health and wellbeing. How the different stages in the migration process impacts health is however poorly explored. The aim of this stud...

Authors: Jasmin Haj-Younes, Elisabeth Marie Strømme, Jannicke Igland, Bernadette Kumar, Eirik Abildsnes, Wegdan Hasha and Esperanza Diaz

State-society nexus in Brazil and Venezuela and its effect on participatory governance efforts in health and other sectors

Participatory governance is about state and society jointly responsible for political decisions and services. The origins and trajectory of participatory governance initiatives are determined by the socio-poli...

Authors: Qamar Mahmood and Carles Muntaner

Projected impact of diabetes on the Costa Rican healthcare system

Costa Rica, similar to many other Latin American countries is undergoing population aging at a fast pace. As a result of the epidemiological transition, the prevalence of diabetes has increased. This condition...

Authors: Carolina Santamaría-Ulloa and Melina Montero-López

Inequality in healthcare use among older people in Colombia

Since the early 1990s, Colombia has made great strides in extending healthcare coverage to its population. In order to measure the impact of these efforts, it is important to assess whether the introduction of...

Authors: Jorge Garcia-Ramirez, Zlatko Nikoloski and Elias Mossialos

How to adapt sexual and reproductive health services to the needs and circumstances of trans people— a qualitative study in Colombia

People living a trans-life require access to equitable healthcare services, policies and research that address their needs. However, trans people have experienced different forms of violence, discrimination, s...

Authors: Mariana Calderón-Jaramillo, Ángel Mendoza, Natalia Acevedo, Luz Janeth Forero-Martínez, Sandra Marcela Sánchez and Juan Carlos Rivillas-García

Communities on the move: community participation in health in rural territories of Buenaventura District in Colombia

Social and community participation is a fundamental component of the development of renewed primary healthcare (PHC). With the recognition of health as a right, such participation is a significant part of the ...

Authors: Laura Catalina Blandón-Lotero and Marta Cecilia Jaramillo-Mejía

Horizontal inequity in the use and access to health care in Uruguay

In 2007 Uruguay began a reform in the health sector towards the construction of a National Integrated Health System (SNIS), based on public insurance with private and public provision. The main objective of th...

Authors: Cecilia González and Patricia Triunfo

“Got to build that trust”: the perspectives and experiences of Aboriginal health staff on maternal oral health

In Australia, models of care have been developed to train antenatal care providers to promote oral health among pregnant women. However, these models are underpinned by Western values of maternity care that do...

Authors: Ariana C. Kong, Mariana S. Sousa, Lucie Ramjan, Michelle Dickson, Joanne Goulding, Kylie Gwynne, Folau Talbot, Nathan Jones, Ravi Srinivas and Ajesh George

Realigning global health governance: WHO at a crossroads

Authors: Irene Torres, Osvaldo Artaza, Barbara Profeta, Cristina Alonso and JaHyun Kang

A qualitative analysis of vaccine decision makers’ conceptualization and fostering of ‘community engagement’ in India

Globally, and in India, research has highlighted the importance of community engagement in achieving national vaccination goals and in promoting health equity. However, community engagement is not well-defined...

Authors: Tapati Dutta, Beth E. Meyerson, Jon Agley, Priscilla A. Barnes, Catherine Sherwood-Laughlin and Jill Nicholson-Crotty

Addressing the caste system in U.S. healthcare in the era of COVID-19

In healthcare, we find an industry that typifies the unique blend of racism, classism, and other forms of structural discrimination that comprise the U.S. caste system—the artificially-constructed and legally-...

Authors: Karthik Sivashanker, Cheri Couillard, Jennifer Goldsmith, Normella Walker and Sunil Eappen

Adaptation and validation of social accountability measures in the context of contraceptive services in Ghana and Tanzania

Changes in the values, attitudes, and interactions of both service users and health care providers are central to social accountability processes in reproductive health. However, there is little consensus on h...

Authors: Victoria Boydell, Petrus S. Steyn, Joanna Paula Cordero, Ndema Habib, My Huong Nguyen, Dela Nai and Donat Shamba

Ethics, pandemic and environment; looking at the future of low middle income countries

COVID-19 which started in Wuhan, China and swiftly expanded geographically worldwide, including to Low to Middle Income Countries (LMICs). This in turn raised numerous ethical concerns in preparedness, knowled...

Authors: Faouzia Tanveer, Ali Talha Khalil, Muhammad Ali and Zabta Khan Shinwari