The Bulgarian country profile: the dynamics of some inequalities in health.

The Bulgarian health-care system was based on the concept of equal access and treatment. In its early stages health improved and disparities between urban and rural areas and districts diminished. New problems, institutional rigidities and policy reversals led later to the concentration of health resources in the towns and cities and to a deterioration in rural health. Sharp disparities in reported health status exist between occupational, educational and income groups. Life expectancy has fallen. Some health problems arise from urbanization, industrialization and heavy internal migration. Others clearly derive from dysfunction in the health system itself, its narrow concept of health, the inability of health plans to adapt to changing problems and needs and the emergence of privilege in access and quality of care.