Research Article - Journal of Public Health Policy and Planning (2021) Volume 5, Issue 10

Universal health coverage index in the poorest region of Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan: 2012-2018.

Introduction: Universal health coverage means that all people have access to basic and quality health interventions, including promotion, prevention, treatment and rehabilitation at costs that people can afford. Such coverage is the third goal of the Sustainable Development Goals. Given the importance of the issue and the influential characteristics of Sistan-Baluchestan province on this index, we decided to conduct the first study to achieve a universal health coverage index in this province.

Materials and Methods: The present quantitative study was conducted in 2019 in Sistan and Baluchestan province as a retrospective cohort. In this study, secondary health data were used during a seven-year trend from 2012 to 2018. Data were collected through an information form and analyzed using dispersion center indices, frequency distribution tables, t-test and ANOVA in SPSS 16 software.

Results: The mean general health coverage in Sistan and Baluchestan province was 13%, ranging from 17.1% in Khash city to 6.3% in Sarbaz city. Also, this coverage was significantly different in the cities of the province (P <0.05). In this study, the highest coverage index pertained to vaccination (99.71%) and the lowest coverage pertained to essential drugs (0.006%). Also, the mean percentage of general health coverage before and after the transformation plan and also between 2012 and 2018 showed a statistically significant difference (p <0.002).

Discussion and Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that access to universal health coverage is affected by many factors such as material, physical and human resources, infrastructure, economic, climatic, geographical and cultural conditions of the society. This coverage in Sistan and Baluchestan province was much lower than the national average, which indicates the unfair and inadequate distribution of financial, human and physical resources in this province.

Author(s): Azar Abolpur1, Fatemeh Setoodehzadeh2*, Mehdi Zanganeh Baygi 3, Alireza Ansari-Moghaddam4, Mohammad Khammarnia3,5

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