Improving Linkages and Referrals to the Broader Health System : For Equitable Care Amidst Rapid Growth and Urbanization

World Bank Group

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: URBAN POVERTY;    PRIMARY HEALTH CARE;    MEDICAL REFERRAL;    COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS;    PRIMARY CARE FACILITIES;   

RP-ID  :  137706

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

In the fragmented care systems ofrapidly growing cities, patients can get lost in theshuffle. A cornucopia of providers is spread across thepublic, private, and nonprofit sectors, making it difficultto track patients and ensure referral completion. Healthsystems may also lack human and infrastructure resources tomeet demand for higher levels of care; where resources areconstrained, the few available specialists andunderdeveloped emergency medical services may mostly caterto the wealthy, fuelling health inequities. At the sametime, perceptions of low-quality in primary care servicescan lead patients to go directly to hospitals for minormaladies or injuries. Functional referral systems in urbanareas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will needto ensure prompt and appropriate transfer to higher-levelcare, supplemented by primary care strengthening to preventcostly and inefficient self-referrals.