一般社団法人 日本医療情報学会

[4-J-3-02] An analysis of the equality of health resources in China

*Jieyu Zhao1, Katsuhiko Ogasawara 1 (1. Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University)

healthcare, equality, HRDI, Theil Index

Background: The equality of healthcare resource distribution is an important issue worldwide. The equality of the healthcare service is considered that there are not any differences in accessing health services among regions, even though there exist gaps in social, economic, geographical, power and prestige levels. In particular, abundant studies have been conducted in developing countries. Method: The HRDI displays the influence of population and geographical factors on the agglomeration of health resources while avoiding bias caused by a single population or geographical aspect. Theil Index is a relative indicator, and no universal assessment standard of inequality levels is available. Result: For the government investment and the number of healthcare institutions, the value of Theil index was close to the X-axe under 0.03 from 2010 to 2019, which meant that the equity of finance and health infrastructure was fulfilled. The inequity in the finance, nurse, and bed indicators most came from internal regions, while there was an upward trend of shares in contribution of within region from 2009 to 2019. Based on the government aim in 2020, the number of doctors per thousand person should reach 2.5; the number of nurses per thousand person should reach 3.14; and the number of beds per thousand person should reach 6. Conclusion: The equality of the distribution of healthcare services in China was unfair between the eastern and middle-western areas. Although many provinces did not meet the requirements for medical resources in 2019, the distribution of healthcare services was approached relatively equitably countrywide.