Access to health care in developing countries: breaking down demand side barriers
Open accessAbstract
Effective health care interventions are underutilized in the developing world, and income-related disparities in use are large. The evidence concerning this access problem is summarized and its demand side causes are identified. Broad strategies that have been proposed to tackle the access problem through changes in economic incentives are considered. It is argued that there is a need to go beyond the identification of broad strategies to the design and evaluation of specific policy measures. Only through experimentation and evaluation will we learn what works in raising health care utilization, particularly among the poor in the developing world.
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The association between concern about cesarean section cost and trial of labor preference is explained by Uganda being a low-middle-income country where people lack access to medical care because they cannot afford it.
“This is because Uganda is still a low-middle-income country where people lack access to medical care because they cannot afford it [52].”
From Preference and determinants of delivery mode in pregnant women with one cesarean scar: a cross-sectional study in two urban Ugandan public hospitals (2025) · cites this paper as [52]
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Evaluation of an Android-based mHealth system for population surveillance in developing countries
Rajput, Z. A., Mbugua, S., Amadi, D., Chepngeno, V., Saleem, J. J., Anokwa, Y., Hartung, C., Borriello, G., Mamlin, B. W., Ndege, S. K., et al. (2012) · Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association · doi:10.1136/amiajnl-2011-000476 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Tuijn, C. J., Hoefman, B. J., van Beijma, H., Oskam, L., & Chevrollier, N. (2011) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028348 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Nabawanuka, B., Ngabirano, T., & Nankumbi, J. (2025) · BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth · doi:10.1186/s12884-025-07263-2 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- O'Donnell, O.
- Affiliations
- University of Macedonia, Greece
- Venue
- Cadernos de Saúde Pública
- Publisher
- FapUNIFESP (SciELO)
- Published
- 2007-12
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2820-2834
- ISSN
- 0102-311X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2171416943
- Cited by
- 567
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 100 · 2019: 56 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 37 · 2016: 22 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 12 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 7.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- diamond
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Cadernos de Saúde Pública (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Finance › Healthcare Systems and Reforms
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Healthcare Policy and Management
- Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy
- Keywords
- health care access, demand-side barriers, health care utilization, economic incentives, health policy evaluation, medical services for the poor, developing countries
- MeSH terms
- Community Health Services, Developing Countries, Health Expenditures, Financing, Government, Health Services, Health Services Accessibility, Health Services Needs and Demand, Humans, Income, Poverty, Quality of Health Care, Social Justice, Program Evaluation, Private Sector, Public Sector
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