| Literature DB >> 23241450 |
Piya Hanvoravongchai1, Irwin Chavez, James W Rudge, Sok Touch, Weerasak Putthasri, Pham Ngoc Chau, Bounlay Phommasack, Pratap Singhasivanon, Richard Coker.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: There is increasing perception that countries cannot work in isolation to militate against the threat of pandemic influenza. In the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) of Asia, high socio-economic diversity and fertile conditions for the emergence and spread of infectious diseases underscore the importance of transnational cooperation. Investigation of healthcare resource distribution and inequalities can help determine the need for, and inform decisions regarding, resource sharing and mobilisation.Entities:
Mesh:
Year: 2012 PMID: 23241450 PMCID: PMC3556110 DOI: 10.1186/1476-072X-11-53
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Int J Health Geogr ISSN: 1476-072X Impact factor: 3.918
Figure 1Availability (per population) of healthcare resources for responding to pandemic influenza across provinces in four countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Boxes represent the median and interquartile range, and whiskers represent the most extreme values within 1.5 times of the interquartile range. cm = Cambodia; la = Lao PDR; th = Thailand; vn = vietnam; HRH = human resources for health (medical doctors and nurses).
Number of provinces that are relatively underserved for each resource, and their populations
| | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cambodia | 13.4 | 24 | 14 | 17 | 20 | 24 | 78 | 76 | 84 | 100 |
| Lao PDR | 5.6 | 17 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 7 | 66 | 76 | 90 | 27 |
| Thailand | 63.4 | 76 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 28 | 4 | 1 | 27 |
| Vietnam | 85.4 | 63 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 20 | 3 |
Underserved provinces are operationally defined as those with resource densities in the lowest quintile across all provinces.
Figure 2Geographic distribution of healthcare resources (adjusted for population size) for responding to pandemic influenza across provinces in four countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Relatively underserved and over-supplied provinces are operationally defined as those in the lowest and highest quintiles, respectively.
Number of provinces underserved by multiple resource items, and their populations
| | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Cambodia | 13.4 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 17 | 65 |
| Lao PDR | 5.6 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 37 | 45 | 11 |
| Thailand | 63.4 | 76 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 37 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| Vietnam | 85.4 | 63 | 17 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
*Underserved provinces are operationally defined as those with resource densities in the lowest quintile across all provinces.
Number of provinces with resource mismatches and their populations
| Cambodia | 13.4 | 24 | 2 | 10 | 1.3 |
| Lao PDR | 5.6 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thailand | 63.4 | 76 | 7 | 21 | 13.2 |
| Vietnam | 85.4 | 63 | 7 | 6 | 5.4 |
*A resource mismatch is defined as a province that is both relatively underserved (lowest quintile) for at least one resource item and relatively oversupplied (highest quintile) for at least one other resource item.
Figure 3Spatial clusters and outliers of healthcare resources across provinces in the Greater Mekong Subregion. “High-high” and “low-low” clusters define a group of adjacent provinces with similarly high and low resource densities, respectively. A“high-low” cluster defines a province with relatively high resource density that is adjacent to provinces with relatively low resource densities, while a “low-high” cluster defines the converse pattern.
Figure 4Spatial clusters and outliers of healthcare resources across provinces within each country in the Greater Mekong Subregion. In this analysis, resource densities are only compared among provinces within the same country (unlike in Figure 3). “High-high” and “low-low” clusters define a group of adjacent provinces with similarly high and low resource densities, respectively. A“high-low” cluster defines a province with relatively high resource density that is adjacent to provinces with relatively low resource densities, while a “low-high” cluster defines the converse pattern.
Summary indices of inequality in resource distribution across provinces in the Greater Mekong Subregion
| Health Workers | 0.236 | 0.093 | 0.071 | 0.021 |
| Beds | 0.273 | 0.126 | 0.102 | 0.024 |
| Ventilators | 0.525 | 0.482 | 0.219 | 0.262 |
| Oseltamivir | 0.504 | 0.466 | 0.378 | 0.089 |
Inequality in distribution of key resources across provinces within countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion
| Cambodia | 0.395 | 0.337 | 0.645 | 0.251 |
| Lao PDR | 0.152 | 0.240 | 0.343 | 0.319 |
| Thailand | 0.240 | 0.266 | 0.367 | 0.607 |
| Vietnam | 0.144 | 0.224 | 0.351 | 0.310 |
| All 4 countries | 0.236 | 0.273 | 0.525 | 0.504 |