National equity of health resource allocation in China: data from 2009 to 2013.

Wen Liu,Shixue Li,Peter Twum,Ying Liu

doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0357-1

Wen Liu, Shixue Li + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0357-1

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Abstract

BackgroundThe inequitable allocation of health resources is a worldwide problem, and it is also one of the obstacles facing for health services utilization in China. A new round of health care reform which contains the important aspect of improving the equity in health resource allocation was released by Chinese government in 2009. The aim of this study is to understand the changes of equity in health resource allocation from 2009 to 2013, and make a further inquiry of the main factors which influence the equity conditions in China.MethodsData resources are the China Health Statistics Yearbook (2014) and the China Statistical Yearbook (2014). Four indicators were chosen to measure the trends in equity of health resource allocation. Data were disaggregated by three geographical regions: west, central, and east. Theil index was used to calculate the degree of unfairness.ResultsThe total amount of health care resources in China had been increasing in recent years. However, the per 10, 000 km2 number of health resources showed a huge gap in different regions, and per 10, 000 capita health resources ownership showed a relatively small disparities at the same time. The index of health resources showed an overall downward trend, in which health financial investment the most unfair from 2009 to 2012 and the number of health institutions the most unfair in 2013. The equity of health resources allocation in eastern regions was the worst except for the aspect of health technical personnel allocation. The regional contribution rates were lower than that of the inter-regional contribution rates which were all beyond 60 %.ConclusionThe equity of health resource allocation improved gradually from 2009 to 2013. However, the internal differences within the eastern region still have a huge impact on the overall equity in health resource allocation. The tough issues of inequitable in health resource allocation should be resolved by comprehensive measures from a multidisciplinary perspective.

Highlights

The inequitable allocation of health resources is a worldwide problem, and it is one of the obstacles facing for health services utilization in China
The internal differences within the eastern region still have a huge impact on the overall equity in health resource allocation
The tough issues of inequitable in health resource allocation should be resolved by comprehensive measures from a multidisciplinary perspective

Summary

Introduction

The inequitable allocation of health resources is a worldwide problem, and it is one of the obstacles facing for health services utilization in China. A new round of health care reform which contains the important aspect of improving the equity in health resource allocation was released by Chinese government in 2009. The equity of the health resource allocation which means the way health resources been distributed and flowed among the health care departments or regions can reflect the degree of health equity which is an important aspect of social fairness [1]. Equitable allocation of health resources is one of the basic conditions to achieve the population health fairness. The inequity of the health resource allocation is a global problem, not just a common phenomenon in China or other developing countries. It is necessary to optimize the allocation of limited resources to meet the health service demands of the population [4]

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