A multi-country survey on access to healthcare and treatment services among individuals with critical medical care needs during the first wave of the pandemic

BMC Public Health

Research

Ala’a B. Al-Tammemi¹  Muhammad Abrar Yousaf²  Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan³  Annie L. Nguyen⁴  Martin Amogre Ayanore⁵  Nourhan M. Aly⁶  Maha El Tantawi⁶  Balgis Gaffar⁷  Eshrat Ara⁸  Anthonia Omotola Ishabiyi⁹  Passent Ellakany^1,10  Mohammed Jafer^1,11  Jorma I. Virtanen^1,12  Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga^1,13  Joanne Lusher^1,14  Oliver C. Ezechi^1,15 

[1] Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Applied Science Research Center, Applied Science Private University, Amman, Jordan;Migration Health Division, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amman, Jordan;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Virtual University of Pakistan, Lahore, Pakistan;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Child Dental Health, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Family Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Health Policy Planning and Management, Fred N. Binka School of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Dental Public Health, Faculty of Dentistry, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Psychology, Government College for Women, J&K, MA Road Srinagar, Srinagar, India;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Sociology, Florida Atlantic University, Florida, USA;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Department of Substitutive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Faculty of Dentistry, Dental Public Health Division, Jazan University, Jizan, Saudi Arabia;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Faculty of Medicine, University of Turku, Turku, Finland;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Postgraduate Department, University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;Provost’s Group, Regent’s University London, London, UK;Mental Health and Wellness Study Group, Ile-Ife, Nigeria;The Centre for Reproductive and Population Health Studies, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria;

关键词: Access to healthcare;    Alternative healthcare;    Access to medicines;    Sex worker;    Drug use;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-023-15007-0

 received in 2022-11-17, accepted in 2023-01-09,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHealthcare services were significantly interrupted during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the present study was to determine the associations between sociodemographic factors and healthcare access during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic among individuals with critical care needs.MethodsThis was a secondary analysis of the data of 5,156 participants recruited from 152 countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The dependent variables were self-reported difficulty of access to health care, challenges with obtaining medication, and the use of alternative medical services. The independent variables were age at last birthday; sex at birth, level of education, employment status and the macro-social vulnerability status. The confounding variable was the country income level. Three multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the associations between the dependent variables and the independent variables after adjusting for the confounder.ResultsDifficulty accessing health care services and obtaining medications was experienced by 1922 (37.3%) and 3746 (72.7%) participants respectively. Also, 1433 (27.8%) used alternative medical care. Retirees (AOR:1.59), unemployed (AOR:1.198), people living with HIV (AOR:2.36) and at increased risk of COVID-19 (AOR:2.10), people who used drugs (AOR:1.83) and transacted sex (AOR:1.971) had significantly higher odds for reporting difficulty with access to health care. Males (AOR:1.23), respondents with secondary level of education (AOR:1.39), retirees (AOR:2.19), unemployed (AOR:1.47), people living with HIV (AOR:2.46), people who used drugs (AOR:1.79), transacted sex (AOR:2.71) and those who might be (AOR: 1.66) and were at (AOR: 2.3) increased risk of severe COVID-19 had significantly higher odds for reporting difficulty with access to medications. People who used drugs (AOR:2.093) transacted sex (AOR:1.639), who might be (AOR: 1.211) and were at (AOR: 1.511) increased risk of severe COVID-19, and who had difficulty accessing usual healthcare (AOR: 9.047) and obtaining medications (AOR:2.16) had significantly higher odds of reporting alternative medical care use. People living with HIV (AOR:0.562) had significantly lower odds of using alternative medical care.ConclusionWe identified populations who had challenges with access to healthcare and obtaining medications used alternative medical care except for people living with HIV. Priority attention should be given to alternative medical care use during future health pandemics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023