Measuring the equity of health services in Kenya: a tool for informing policy
This brief outlines the methods that researchers used to measure health service equity
Abstract
Equitable access to health services is a key health systems goal in many low-income countries where often the poorest people have the highest health care needs but receive the lowest share of public health system benefits.
In Kenya, researchers have developed a new way of assessing how equitable public primary health services are, by looking at the associations between health facility characteristics and the poverty level of the area in which the facility is located. This method was used to assess variations in health facility resources and service availability across socioeconomic status in Kenya, and has the potential to be a useful tool to inform policy on increasing equitable access to health services elsewhere.
This brief outlines the methods that researchers used to measure health service equity, as well as the key findings from the study.
This research was produced by the Department for International Development’s RESYST (Resilient and Responsive Health Systems) programme which is led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Citation
Molyneux, S.; Goodman, C.; Toda, M.; Noor, A. Measuring the equity of health services in Kenya. (2014) 4 pp.
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