Abstract

LAGO, Fernando Pablo; ELORZA, María Eugenia; NEBEL-MOSCOSO, Silvana  and  VANINA-RIPARI, Nadia. Equity of access for Primary Health Care in decentralized health systems: the case of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rev. Gerenc. Polit. Salud [online]. 2013, vol.12, n.25, pp.40-54. ISSN 1657-7027.

The paper studies the degree of equity in access to services for Primary Health Care (phc) among the inhabitants of the municipalities of the Province of Buenos Aires (Argentina). It is a retrospective quantitative study which used as an indicator of access to phc services the number of persons per primary health center (PHCS) in each municipality. The results indicate the existence of strong inequalities in access among municipalities, which cannot be justified by different needs of phc services. The needs were defined from the infant mortality rate and the percentage of households with unsatisfied basic needs. In turn, it appears that municipalities with higher levels of wealth and higher levels of health expenditure per capita for municipal health purpose have better indicators of access to phc services.

Keywords : decentralization; primary health care; access to health services; funding health care; Argentina; Primary heatlh care; equity in health; health financing; health systems; decentralization; Buenos Aires (Argentina).

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