Health, poverty and vulnerability
Equity in health and health care in Malawi: analysis and trends
Rising trends in inequities in health between the poor and non-poor in Malawi
Authors:
E. Zere; M. Moeti; J. Jirigia
Publisher:
BMC Public Health, 2007
This article in BMC public health assesses trends in inequities in health and health service utilisation in Malawi using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) of 1992, 2000, and 2004. The paper finds that there has been an increase in the levels of pro-rich inequity in infant and under-five mortality rates. This implies that the burden of infant and under-five mortality is getting disproportionately higher among children from the poor than the non-poor households. Inequalities are also observed in the use of interventions including treatment of diarrhoea. In addition, the paper finds that the publicly provided services for some of the selected interventions including child delivery, benefit the non-poor more than the poor.
The article concludes that the widening trend in inequities, in particular healthcare utilisation for proven cost-effective interventions is likely to jeopardise the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals and other national and regional targets. To counteract the inequities, the authors recommend that coverage in poor communities be increased through appropriate targeting mechanisms and effective service delivery strategies. There is also a need for studies to identify which service delivery mechanisms are effective in the Malawian context. [adapted from authors]
