Importance Of Universal Health Equity

Health equity has become an increasingly popular research topic during the past 25 years. The increased popularity as a research topic reflects that a growth of interest in health equity on the part of policy makers, donors, non-government organizations (NGOs), and other stakeholders[1]. Hundreds of published papers on the health equity have uncovered that many countries in the world have been implementing the reforms of the healthcare systems, in ways which are management systems of the healthcare are being improved and modernized financially and technically. The main aim of the reforms in most low and developing countries is to provide universal health coverage to the citizens[2]. The universal health coverage (UHC) refers to securing the

It is frequently implied that notions of equality are equitable, although there is commonly a lack of clarity as to what entity should be equal, such as income, wealth, opportunity, capacity, or health condition and health services [4]. In practice, health equity is concerned with one or more of the four main factors: health outcomes; healthcare utilization/access; health care financing; and responsiveness[1]. Heath outcomes. Healthcare access refers to the equal treatment for medical needs, irrespective of other characteristics of patients such as: income, age, race, and place of residence. Similarly, healthcare financing has often been place with a more general framework for evaluating the performance of the healthcare systems. It is about a fairness in payment for health care involves acknowledging that these payments ought to be appropriately linked to individuals’ abilities-to-pay (ATP) rather than their needs and benefits. However, it reflects diverse concerns about the degree of inequality due to household’s income or between the poor and the

The reforms of China’s healthcare systems make this country an importance case for studying the effects of UHC reforms on equity. However, the Chinese government has noticed an increase in health inequalities based on income and geographical location of the residents[3]. Seeing that the government has introduced a numerous measures to improve the healthcare system, including new insurance scheme as well as reforms targeting the primary sector, public hospitals, and pharmaceuticals. Notably, the new health insurance schemes covering a huge and previously uninsured population groups are major reforms in China’s UHC history. For example, in 2003 more than half of Chinese population was uninsured, but after reforms in 2011 more than 90% of the population entitled to some kind of insurance[3]. The question of how UHC reforms have affected equity in health service utilization and access in China has drawn remarkable intention, whereas the equity dimensions are still less positive in terms of socio-economic and geographical differences. Therefore, this paper used 2012 China’s Yearbook of Health Statistics to compares equity in health care system across three provinces, namely Beijing, Anhui, and Ningxia. The main purpose of the paper is to provide an evidence on the inequity of the healthcare system of China based on the different