Access to Healthcare.
Introduction.
Every individual in the society has a right to get access to healthcare. While mitigating other humanitarian policies, the governments have firmly tried to ensure that there are sufficient healthcare services to people, as a means of fighting various disparities that exist in the public health sector. However, the initiatives are covered with different factors and issues that either delay or support the efficiency of people to access healthcare. In one way or another, different groups tend to benefit more when it comes to health care services considering the issue of privately owned healthcare services. It is although the wish of every individual that health care services be dispersed equally in society so that it can serve even the less vulnerable. Therefore, accessing health care is a significant determinant of social health, that outlines the needs and reasons for access to health care for every individual in the society, and the factor involved, without any barriers of specific interests.
Therefore, to start with, accessing health café should be highly improved. Getting medical insurance is not a guarantee to access. Nothing proves that people who have insurance live longer and survive than those without. However, it is an initial process that improves access to healthcare. Much broader aspects include ensuring that there is sufficient funding for insurance programs covering child healthcare (American Medical Association, 2018). Physician networks should also be increased so that their workforce is easily available for those in need.
Accessing healthcare does not only involve the availability of the workforce and the patients. Other technicalities such as transport are intermediate to ensuring access. Transport therefore should be readily available and reliable. The centralization of specialists to specific points has not configured any important outcome since it interferes with the intended physical distance to be covered (Gulliford et al., 2020). It is therefore important to advocate for the decentralization of specialists so that, the area coverage is significant enough for access even to the less vulnerable.
Research done globally shows that people living with disabilities usually face a lot of barriers when it comes to accessing health care services (Vergunst et al., 2017). The most affected person are those living in low and middle-income countries, such as rural contests for this case. A study done in South Africa, exploring access to health care for people with disabilities showed that the problems faced are an inclusion for both persons living with and without a disability. However, the most affected population is PWD as they face more physical barriers. It is therefore advised that to help curb this problem, society should consider not only medical issues but also look into addressing social implications and inclusions for PWD.
Contemporary society has benefited a lot when it comes to health care as technology has assisted in different health aspects such as disease diagnosis and treatment. However, accessing health care is still an issue the society is facing a large scale as the population’s especially the vulnerable communities are burdened by diseases because of inadequate health care.
Therefore, putting aside PWD, there are more vulnerable populations who require health care services and cannot acquire. It is therefore important that access to health care is improved among the populations of vulnerable persons Liverani et al., 2017). However, there is complexity in factors that influence the uptake of health programs in the community such as those facing Malaria programs in Cambodia (Liverani et al., 2017).
It is therefore important that health care workers are deployed in large numbers to help the populations understand the importance of such programs. For the benefit of their well-being. Other aspects include implementing changes in the mapping of disease epidemiology, infrastructure, and physical access, to serve as policies to improve access to health care services.
As much as there should be access to health care in a vulnerable community, quality should be maintained. For most people living in vulnerable communities, hospitals are the only places they trust and rely on for health care. It is therefore important that their hospitals be transformed taking care of the people’s needs, support structure, and preferences (Bhatt & Bathija, 2018). Strategies such as payment methods should be integrated fairly to the vulnerable communities. Therefore, accessing health care should consider other social determinants of health, innovative strategies of patient care, and both in and outpatient transformative strategies.
To this point, it is clear that all persons are equally considered for health care access and utilization. However, utilization is dependent on to need for health care services, this means that, for health care services to be utilized, there should be a need for the services. Access therefore should be timely, to achieve the best outcome after health care services (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2018). Looking into access in a broader perspective, it is not only about visiting any hospital for care but it means, being able to enter into the systems of health care, then visiting the sites where the patient can receive specific services, and finally, to find people able to attend to their needs and develop for them a platform which they can create a mutual and trusted relationship. Timely access to health care which enables easy control and management of ailments presented to health care facilities.
Factors affecting access to health care services.
It is a human right for every individual to access health care, with a major equity principle, I all national systems (Dassah, Aldersey, McColl & Davison, 2018). A government that does not support access and equity to health care does not mind about the life of its citizens. In the present world, the population is facing a lot of new diseases with complex mechanisms in diagnosis and treatment. Despite the increase in medical biotechnology in managing the efficiency of health care service delivery, it is important that people readily access health care so that a lot of diseases and epidemics can be avoided.
One of the factors that affect access to health care is the availability of principles that govern the idea of equitable access to health care. These principles should, therefore, be clear and elaborate enough with all possible inclusions that favor all settings of life to access health care services without barriers of any specific interest. “The Universal Healthcare Movement” observed in various countries is one of the most important policies and movements that help to solve the disparities in health care access.
Additionally, the ability to solve the inequalities that exist in health care access will largely induce a positive outcome. This is because, a group of people in society will not feel exempted from the fact that they can get health care services (Dawkins, et al. 2020). Therefore, one of the most effective ways to address the existing inequalities is moving towards the global goals, which encourage and stimulate fair and safe access, affordability, and understanding of the importance of access to health care for every individual.
Lack of intervention in society is also an existing factor that faces access to health care. The healthcare systems should work to ensure sensitization in society for people to embrace health care access. Various reasons might be influencing the resistance and resilience in getting health care services such as stigmatization experiences due to various disease diagnosis, the fear of not getting any further help, fear of what awaits their diagnosis, and inadequate funds for medication. It is therefore important that national systems look into such matters and address them accordingly.
Finally, another common factor as discussed earlier is transportation inadequacy. This is one of the leading factors of delayed presentation for healthcare services. Access to transport is a major issue facing those seeking access, rather than the distance to be covered to the health facilities (Rees, Hawkesworth, Moore, Dondeh & Unger, 2016). It, therefore, suggests that, despite creating free access to health care, transportation remains a problem.
A point of concern here is that some to most of the decentralized rural health facilities also suffer transport issues. One ambulance to cover a whole region of poor road conditions does not serve the people right. However, the sparse populations I rural regions are also a turn off when it comes to mobile health care services. Therefore, cost-effective mitigations and interventions should be looked into so that, such areas can enjoy efficient and effective access to health care services.
Service availability is also another factor to consider. This means that the availability of health care services should be inclusive of people concerned with supplying healthcare, i .e the presence of professionals such as clinicians and availability of medicines (Rees, Hawkesworth, Moore, Dondeh & Unger, 2016). As much as the availability of services and taskforce enable healthcare access, it does not guarantee access in that, various factors restrict or form a barrier to access.
Barriers to health care access.
To start with, the financial barrier is one major aspect considered here. The socio-economic status of an individual will strongly affect their access. For this framework, cases such as literacy levels, language commands, and income levels can hinder a person’s access to health care services (Santalahti, Sumit & Perkiö, 2020). Therefore, the government and national should work to ensure equal distribution of income opportunities so that, every person has the financial freedom to access health care, bearing the fact that health care specialists are far much regarded in terms of how much they charge for their services.
Migration also affects access in that, the formality of access when not known can hinder a person from accessing health care services. For this context, every society is governed by their social policies (Santalahti, Sumit & Perkiö, 2020). Therefore, migration into a different environment equally needs adjustment because of various reasons such as racism and migration, and also the nature of work service. Therefore, such barriers might prevent a person from accessing health care services.
Conclusion.
In case a person falls sick, the quickest option available is how to get better sooner, since, getting sick interferes with a person’s daily life. Therefore, it is sad when a person notices that they are sick and cannot get any medication, a feeling that does not end well since the hopes of getting better are deemed. Accessing health care is therefore not any new thing in this century as every nation is fighting to ensure that all its citizens get affordable healthcare services. Finally, further initiatives should be put across to ensure that all barriers to access are solved to avoid the huge economic burden poor health puts on the society, country, and the world as a whole.
References.
American Medical Association. (2018). 5 ways to improve access to health care. Retrieved 18 July 2020, from https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/patient-support-advocacy/5-ways-improve-access-health-care
Bhatt, J., & Bathija, P. (2018). Ensuring Access to Quality Health Care in Vulnerable Communities. Academic Medicine, 93(9), 1271-1275. doi: 10.1097/acm.0000000000002254. https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/fulltext/2018/09000/ensuring_access_to_quality_health_care_in.13.aspx
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Dawkins, B., Renwick, C., Ensor, T., Shinkins, B., Jayne, D., & Meads, D. (2020). What factors affect patients’ access to healthcare? Protocol for an overview of systematic reviews. Systematic reviews, 9(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-020-1278-z.
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Liverani, M., Nguon, C., Sok, R., Kim, D., Nou, P., Nguon, S., & Yeung, S. (2017). Improving access to health care amongst vulnerable populations: a qualitative study of village malaria workers in Kampot, Cambodia. BMC Health Services Research, 17(1). doi: 10.1186/s12913-017-2282-4. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-017-2282-4#citeas
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. “2 Factors That Affect Health-Care Utilization.” Health-Care Utilization as a Proxy in Disability Determination. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Chapter 4 pg 37. Doi: 10.17226/24969. https://www.nap.edu/read/24969/chapter/4#37
Rees, C., Hawkesworth, S., Moore, S., Dondeh, B., & Unger, S. (2016). Factors Affecting Access to Healthcare: An Observational Study of Children under 5 Years of Age Presenting to a Rural Gambian Primary Healthcare Centre. PLOS ONE, 11(6), e0157790. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0157790. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0157790#sec016
Santalahti, M., Sumit, K., & Perkiö, M. (2020). Barriers to accessing health care services: a qualitative study of migrant construction workers in a southwestern Indian city. BMC Health Services Research, 20(1). doi: 10.1186/s12913-020-05482-1. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-020-05482-1#Sec12
Vergunst, R., Swartz, L., Hem, K., Eide, A., Mannan, H., & MacLachlan, M. et al. (2017). Access to health care for persons with disabilities in rural South Africa. BMC Health Services Research, 17(1). doi: 10.1186/s12913-017-2674-5. https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-017-2674-5