Background: Rabies continues to circulate in low levels through the years. It is continuing to be a public health problem in the Philippines.1,2 The Philippine government created programs, which provided guidelines and tasked several agencies in a collective effort to prevent and control rabies with the aim of declaring the Philippines rabies-free by 2020. Despite this, increase in cases have been noted.2,3,4 Objectives: This study aimed to describe demographics and explore the level of access to care as perceived by the animal bite patients in terms of accessibility, availability, and affordability of vaccine, animal bite treatment center and health worker influencing the control of rabies, which could be useful in the improvement of strategies in the management thereof Results: The study included 71 respondents. 69% were adults and majority live within Baguio City, within the 5km radius from the ABTC. 81.7% can easily obtain ARV from the conveniently accessible ABTC, which is manned by effective health workers. Majority claimed that the vaccine are readily available on the spot and they predominantly paid about Php 1000-2000. Only 14.1% were able to have free vaccine and less than half of the respondents had no problem with affording hospital costs. 18.3% claimed that opening hours of ABTC are in conflict with their schedule. Conclusion The access to care in the control of rabies is important to the health care delivery system. Improvement in the control of rabies underscoring the factors such as distribution, coverage, health care workers, price and supply are avenues to advance efforts in the achievement of the program goal
Health Services Accessibility

Background: The enactment of the Universal Health Care Act is anticipated to bring wider coverage and accessibility of quality healthcare services as stipulated in its objectives. With the integration of the healthcare system at the provincial level, determining population- and individual-based services is crucial in mapping the managerial and financial roles. Hence, this study aimed to establish the criteria for identifying population-based and individualbased health services in the Philippines. Methods: A systematic review of literature was conducted to generate evidence for the policy brief and discussion points on the roundtable discussion spearheaded by the UP Manila Health Policy Development Hub in collaboration with the Department of Health. Key stakeholders of the policy issue convened to share expertise and insights in determining criteria for population- and individual-based services, intending to generate consensus policy recommendations. Results: The general scope of individual-based health services stipulated in the Law are to be financed under the benefit packages of PHIC and HMOs. Meanwhile, population-based services are those that address public health issues such as health promotion and disease surveillance. Several services considered as ‘grey areas’ are those that fall in the overlap of the individual- and population-based services. These services may be examined through an outcome-based algorithm that examines fragmentation issues both in the supply and demand side of service delivery. Conclusion and Recommendation Proposed criteria in identifying individual- and population-based services include the number of recipient/s, the effectivity of service delivery and utilization, and source of funding. Health programs that are in the grey areas can be examined through an outcome-based algorithm.
Healthcare Financing ; Health Services Accessibility

Two cross-sectional studies were conducted in Ninh Binh province during 1999-2003 year period, concerning with the health care services. Results showed that: improvements were reported in terms of the accessibility to health service, especially to the health service at communal level, but the richest group trended to get more to health insurance, while the poorest group trend to increase the use of commune health station. Buying the medicaments from drug store for self treatment still was the common choice.
Delivery of Health Care ; Epidemiology ; Health Services Accessibility

288 old persons aged > 60 years old at Thanh Luong quarter and Xuan Dinh commune in Hanoi city, were subjected to investigation about their health state, morbidity and their use of health services. Results showed a relatively high prevalence of chronical diseases, especially arthritis rheumatism, respiratory and neurological diseases. High blood pressure was also a common condition in urban area. Most of the elderly preferred to care at home or to visit private health care facilities. There was some difference between urban and rural area in the patterm of morbidity and of use of health care services of the elderly.
Morbidity ; Epidemiology ; Health Services Accessibility ; Aged

Medical assistance programs are government-funded programs that provide financial assistance to low-income individuals and families. These programs aim to reduce financial burdens and improve health care access. Coverage may include outpatient visits, hospital care, mental health services, diagnostic work-ups, prescriptions, and other services. This increases the detection of health conditions and improves drug utilization.1 2 3 Even though government health schemes and compulsory contributory health care financing schemes (e.g., PhilHealth) accounted for the majority of health expenditures in the Philippines, household out-of-pocket (OOP) payment still remains high. In 2022, the country’s total health expenditure (THE) was Php 1.12 trillion, with government health schemes and compulsory contributory health care financing schemes accounting for 44.8% of the THE and household OOP payment accounting for 44.7%. Thus, every Filipino spent an average amount of Php 10,059.49 for health care goods and services in 2022
Medical Assistance ; Health Services Accessibility ; Mental Health Services

Acupuncture Therapy ; China ; Health Services Accessibility ; Humans ; Public Health

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the health workforce's service capacities within a health Service Delivery Network (SDN) of an urban poor and a rural poor setting.

METHODS: This is a concurrent mixed-methods study implemented in Navotas and Masbate, an urban poor and a rural poor area, respectively. Health needs of the residents were assessed through records review, qualitative methods and a household survey. Health facilities in the identified SDN were assessed using the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool. Training data of Human Resource for Health (HRH) were also obtained.

RESULTS: SDN in the two areas are different in terms of formality where memoranda of agreement were prepared between Masbate facilities but not in Navotas. Health worker to population ratios were 12.1 per 10,000 in Navotas and 2.7 in Masbate, respectively. The primary care facilities in the two sites met the recommended level of trainings for health workers in obstetric care, immunization, childhood nutrition and tuberculosis. There was a lack of post-graduate training in non-communicable diseases in all facilities. Poverty and geography were significant factors affecting health service delivery.

CONCLUSION: In terms of human resources, both sites have limited number of health workers and the ratios fall far below WHO guideline. Recommendations include: Primary health care staff complement should be increased in the two SDNs. HHRDB should conduct a study to settle the issue of continuing medical education requirements that are not congruent with WHO recommendations. The SDNs should include the access of medicines and commodities by poor patients in private facilities during times of stock outs. Also, during stock outs or unavailability of government health personnel, transportation should be made available via the SDN to transport poor patients to private or nongovernment facilities with the needed personnel. The DOH and HHRDB should investigate innovative strategies for telehealth services that do not require continuous electricity, nor telephone or cellphone signal.

OBJECTIVE: Korea has 3,170 islands with about 188,000 inhabitants. These inhabitants' needs for health services might go unmet because of geographic isolation, slimmer availability of health services, and higher proportion of the elderly compared with the mainland population. Unmet health service needs might result in serious health problems for these island residents. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate their unmet health service needs and related factors from population of Nowha island. METHODS: The survey was conducted from July 30 to August 1 by trained interviewers. Target population were residents in Nohwa island and the sampling method was incomplete quota sampling. General characteristics, socioeconomic status, utilization of health service, and unmet medical service needs were investigated. First univariate and then multivariate logistic analyses were done for the statistical analysis. RESULTS: 324 residents were surveyed and the proportion of unmet health services needs was 26.5%. People living alone and of female sex had increased health services needs based on univariable analysis. From the multivariate analysis, those living alone increased the health services needs. Self-determined low socioeconomic status and medical aid increased the proportion of unmet medical needs, but these were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: In Nowha island, those who are elder, and of lower socioeconomic status had much higher unmet medical needs. The results suggest the need for more social support by qualified health services to solve this unmet medical needs problem.
Aged ; Female ; Health Services ; Health Services Accessibility ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Islands ; Korea ; Multivariate Analysis ; Social Class

In order to reduce the health inequalities within a society changes need to be made in broad health determinants and their distribution in the population. It has been expected that the Health impact assessment(HIA) and Healthy Cities can provide opportunities and useful means for changing social policy and environment related with the broad health determinants in developed countries. HIA is any combination of procedures or methods by which a proposed 4P(policy, plan, program, project) may be judged as to the effects it may have on the health of a population. Healthy city is one that is continually creating and improving those physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other in performing all the functions of life and in developing to their maximum potential. In Korea, social and academic interest regarding the HIA and Healthy Cities has been growing recently but the need of HIA and Healthy Cities in the perspective of reducing health inequality was not introduced adequately. So we reviewed the basic concepts and methods of the HIA and Healthy Cities, and its possible contribution to reducing health inequalities. We concluded that though the concepts and methods of the HIA and Healthy Cities are relatively new and still in need of improvement, they will be useful in approaching the issue of health inequality in Korea.
Health Planning/*methods ; Health Services Accessibility ; *Health Status Disparities ; Humans ; Korea ; *Urban Health ; Urban Population

This paper discusses the implications of the key findings of the Singapore Mental Health Study (SMHS) in the context of the fi rst ever National Mental Health Policy and Blueprint (NMHPB). The SMHS was a cross-sectional epidemiological survey of the adult Singapore residents. The policy implications emanating from the findings of this study are discussed in this commentary. These pertain to initiatives to improve help-seeking behaviour, further developing the capability of the primary healthcare providers and the better integration of primary and specialist mental healthcare. Incorporation of mental health education and screening of mental disorders in the workforce should also be augmented with work practices that protect against discriminating those with mental disorders.
Community Health Services ; Health Policy ; Health Services Accessibility ; Health Services Needs and Demand ; Humans ; Mental Disorders ; epidemiology ; Mental Health ; Public Health ; Singapore ; epidemiology