Silva Martha, McNeill Rob
Centre for Health Services Research and Policy, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 2008 Dec;32(6):519-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1753-6405.2008.00302.x.
The New Zealand government has made a commitment to reducing inequalities in health among its population through the New Zealand Health Strategy. Termination of Pregnancy (TOP) services are an important part of women's health services, and equity in access to services must be ensured.
Assess geographic accessibility to first trimester termination of pregnancy services in New Zealand, and discuss implications for equity in access to services.
TOP service information was obtained nationwide through online resources, and approximate driving distances between all major centres and the closest TOP service to which patients are referred to were calculated for each region. Census data and Statistics NZ data are used to compare population characteristics between regions with reduced geographic accessibility of TOP services.
Women who live in regions that do not offer local TOP services must travel on average 221 km to access TOP services. This equates to an average return-trip distance of 442 km. Three of the five regions that do not have local TOP services available have a higher than average proportion of Maori population.
The results of this study demonstrate that first-trimester TOP services are relatively difficult to access for over one-sixth of the women in New Zealand.
新西兰政府已承诺通过《新西兰健康战略》减少其人口中的健康不平等现象。终止妊娠（TOP）服务是妇女健康服务的重要组成部分，必须确保服务获取的公平性。
评估新西兰孕早期终止妊娠服务的地理可及性，并讨论其对服务获取公平性的影响。
通过在线资源获取全国范围内的TOP服务信息，并计算每个地区所有主要中心与患者被转诊至的最近TOP服务之间的大致驾车距离。使用人口普查数据和新西兰统计局的数据来比较TOP服务地理可及性降低的地区之间的人口特征。
居住在未提供当地TOP服务地区的女性平均必须出行221公里才能获得TOP服务。这相当于平均往返距离为442公里。五个没有当地TOP服务的地区中有三个地区的毛利人口比例高于平均水平。
本研究结果表明，新西兰超过六分之一的女性相对难以获得孕早期TOP服务。
