Background Iranian single women are deprived of reproductive healthcare services, though the provision of such services to the public has increased. This study aimed to explore the experiences of Iranian single women on their access to reproductive health services.   Methods A qualitative design using a conventional content analysis method was used. Semi-structured interviews were held with 17 ...

BACKGROUND Although many studies have analyzed health insurance worldwide, most focus on whole populations rather than specific vulnerable groups. There is a lack of studies that compare different schemes. This paper evaluates the impact of different types of social health insurance and other associated factors on healthcare utilization and costs among middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults. ...

Background. Low use of maternal healthcare services is one of the reasons why maternal mortality is still considerably high among adolescents mothers in India. To increase the utilization of these services, it is necessary to identify factors that affect service utilization. To our knowledge, no national level study in India has yet examined the issue in the context urban adolescent mothers. Th...

Background Both rising healthcare costs and the global financial crisis have fueled a search for policy tools in order to avoid unsustainable future financing of essential health benefits. The scope of essential health benefits (the range of services covered) and depth of coverage (the proportion of costs of the covered benefits that is covered publicly) are corresponding variables in determini...

BACKGROUND Congestive heart failure (CHF) is among the most common causes of hospital admissions and readmissions in the Western world. However, the burden of ambulatory care has not been as well investigated. The objective of this study was to assess the relative burden and direct medical costs of CHF including inpatient and outpatient care. METHODS We used longitudinal clinical data from a ...

background the current distribution of and access to health services along with the future health needs of the population have prompted wide application of geographic information systems (giss). during recent years, gis has been used in public health management for planning and organization of healthcare services. this study investigates geographical accessibility of residential areas in bandar...

Background A health system that provides equitable health care is a principal goal in many countries. Measuring horizontal inequity (HI) in health care utilization is important to develop appropriate and equitable public policies, especially policies related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Design A cross-sectional survey of 1,211 randomly selected households in slum and non-slum areas was ...