Looking beyond the veil of the European crisis - the need to uncover the structural causes of health inequalities

Pujolar, Antonio Escolar; Bacigalupe, Amaia; Sebastián, Miguel San

doi:10.1186/s12939-016-0329-5

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…It is measured in per 1,000 people. Governments' ability to provide the needed health facilities contributes towards reducing mortality rate and improving life expectancy as stated in the study of Pujolar et al (2016). Availability of health staff is proxied by community health workers.…”

Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality rate and life expectancy in Africa: the role of flood occurrence

Osei

Kunawotor

Appiah-Konadu

2023

IJSE

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of flood occurrence on mortality rate and life expectancy amongst 53 African countries.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilizes panel data from the period 2000–2018 on 53 African countries and system generalized method of moments (system GMM) for the analysis.FindingsThe result indicates that flood occurrence causes the destruction of health facilities and the spread of diseases which reduces life expectancy. In addition, flood occurrence increases mortality rate amongst 53 African countries.Research limitations/implicationsPractical implicationsThe study recommends that governments amongst African countries should implement strategies being enshrined in Conference of Parties (COP, 2021) on climate change. This will help to reduce the level of climate change and flood occurrence.Originality/valuePrevious studies focussed on the adverse effect of flood occurrence without considering the issue of life expectancy amongst African countries. This study contributes to existing empirical studies by examining the effect of flood occurrence on mortality rate and life expectancy amongst African countries.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2022-0508.

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Section: Control Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mortality rate and life expectancy in Africa: the role of flood occurrence

Osei

Kunawotor

Appiah-Konadu

2023

IJSE

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“…Even if there is not much information available on the differential impact on various population subgroups, data on several European countries indicate that the more affected groups include the low-educated, people with low income and groups with greater health needs, as well as young couples [ 15 ]. Moreover, there is a paucity of literature regarding determinants and structural causes of these health inequalities in Europe [ 16 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Withstanding austerity: Equity in health services utilisation in the first stage of the economic recession in Southern Spain

et al. 2018

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Scant research is available on the impact of the current economic crisis and austerity policies on inequality in health services utilisation in Europe. This study aimed to describe the trends in horizontal inequity in the use of health services in Andalusia, Spain, during the early years of the Great Recession, and the contribution of demographic, economic and social factors. Consultation with a general practitioner (GP) and specialist, hospitalisation and emergency care were studied through the Andalusian Health Survey 2007 (pre-crisis) and 2011–2012 (crisis), using a composite income index as socioeconomic status (SES) indicator. Horizontal inequity indices (HII) were calculated to take differential healthcare needs into account, and a decomposition analysis of change in inequality between periods was performed. Results showed that before the crisis, the HII was positive (greater access for people with higher SES) for specialist visits but negative (greater access for people with lower SES) in the other three utilisation models. During the crisis no change was observed in inequalities in GP visits, but a pro-poor development was seen for the other types of utilisation, with hospital and emergency care showing significant inequality in favour of low income groups. Overall, the main contributors to pro-poor changes in utilisation were socio-economic variables and poor mental health, due to changes in their elasticities. Our findings show that inequalities in healthcare utilisation largely remained in favour of the less well-off, despite the cuts in welfare benefits and health services provision during the early years of the recession in Andalusia. Further research is needed to monitor the potential impact of such measures in subsequent years.

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“…Research in several European countries about the impact of the economic crisis, which began in 2008, found that the austerity measures imposed were characterized by deep cuts in spending, especially in the public services of education, health and social security, by privatization of public services and deregulation of the market, which was followed by unemployment, flexibilization of labor contracts, wage and benefits cuts, with widespread dismantling of the public sector 16–18 . Pujolar et al 18 conclude that these policies conducted under a neoliberal model “have only contributed to the erosion of the mechanisms that reduce inequality and that enable the growth of equity”, a view that is being shared by the proponents of austerity policies, such as the International Monetary Fund, who began to recognize that the measures implemented did not lead to the expected results and undermined economic growth and equity 19 .…”

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confidence: 99%