Independent Researcher, Manila, Philippines.
BMC Public Health. 2024 Mar 12;24(1):767. doi: 10.1186/s12889-024-18264-9.
The study uncovers micro and macro socioeconomic disparities in terms of health behavior, disease perception, and reception of information. Furthermore, findings shed light on the possible role of health insurance on access to information, disease perception and the adoption of preventive behaviors in the context of a public health emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
This study employed a cross-sectional design using the Philippine Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). With a total of 29,809 respondents, it evaluated the individual or household and systemwide socioeconomic determinants of four different outcomes: receipt of information, disease perception, uptake of free preventive services, and treatment-seeking behavior. In addition to logistic regression models with the socioeconomic variables as the independent variables, models for the evaluation of the moderating effect of insurance ownership were fitted. Predicted probabilities were reported for the analysis of moderating effects.
Findings show that individual and householdsocioeconomic determinants affected health-behavior and access to or receipt of information pertinent to the COVID-19 pandemic. Both education and wealth affected the receipt of information such that individuals in more advantaged socioeconomic positions were at least 30% more likely to have received information on COVID-19. Wealth was also associated to treatment-seeking behavior. Regional differences were seen across all dependent variables. Moreover, the study provides evidence that ownership of insurance can close education-based gaps in the uptake of free vaccination and COVID-19 testing.
It is imperative that targeted efforts be maximized by utilizing existing strategies and mechanisms to reach the marginalized and disadvantaged segments of the population. Health insurance may give off added benefits that increase proficiency in navigating through the healthcare system. Further research may focus on examining pathways by which health insurance or social policies may be used to leverage responses to public health or environmental emergencies.
本研究揭示了在健康行为、疾病认知和信息获取方面存在的微观和宏观社会经济差异。此外，研究结果还揭示了在 COVID-19 大流行等公共卫生紧急情况下，健康保险可能在信息获取、疾病认知和预防行为采纳方面发挥作用。
本研究采用了横断面设计，使用了菲律宾人口与健康调查（DHS）。共调查了 29809 名受访者，评估了个体或家庭以及整个系统的社会经济因素对四个不同结果的影响：信息获取、疾病认知、免费预防服务的采用和治疗寻求行为。除了将社会经济变量作为自变量的逻辑回归模型外，还拟合了用于评估保险所有权调节作用的模型。报告了预测概率以分析调节作用。
研究结果表明，个体和家庭的社会经济决定因素影响了与 COVID-19 相关的健康行为和获取或接收信息。教育和财富都影响了信息获取，处于更有利社会经济地位的个体获取 COVID-19 信息的可能性至少高出 30%。财富也与治疗寻求行为有关。所有因变量都存在地区差异。此外，研究结果还提供了证据表明，拥有保险可以缩小接受免费疫苗接种和 COVID-19 检测方面因教育程度造成的差距。
必须通过最大限度地利用现有的战略和机制，来实现针对边缘化和弱势群体的有针对性的努力。健康保险可能会带来额外的好处，提高在医疗保健系统中的效率。进一步的研究可能集中在研究健康保险或社会政策如何通过利用来应对公共卫生或环境紧急情况的途径。
