Mone, I.; Vasil, S.; Alia, A.; Xinxo, S.; Muça, K.; Burazeri, G. Socio-Demographic Correlates of Barriers to Access Healthcare Services among Children in Post-Communist Albania. Sustainability2023, 15, 8455.
Mone, I.; Vasil, S.; Alia, A.; Xinxo, S.; Muça, K.; Burazeri, G. Socio-Demographic Correlates of Barriers to Access Healthcare Services among Children in Post-Communist Albania. Sustainability 2023, 15, 8455.
Mone, I.; Vasil, S.; Alia, A.; Xinxo, S.; Muça, K.; Burazeri, G. Socio-Demographic Correlates of Barriers to Access Healthcare Services among Children in Post-Communist Albania. Sustainability2023, 15, 8455.
Mone, I.; Vasil, S.; Alia, A.; Xinxo, S.; Muça, K.; Burazeri, G. Socio-Demographic Correlates of Barriers to Access Healthcare Services among Children in Post-Communist Albania. Sustainability 2023, 15, 8455.
Abstract
Access to healthcare services is an essential component of promoting public health and sustainable development. Our aim was to assess socio-demographic correlates of barriers to access healthcare services among children in Albania, a post-communist country in Europe. An online survey was conducted in September 2022, including a nationwide representative sample of 7831 schoolchildren (≈54% girls) pertinent to grades 6-9 from all regions of Albania. A structured and anonymous questionnaire was administered to all children inquiring about a range of potential barriers to access healthcare services. Overall, about 42% of the children reported that they had barriers to access healthcare services. There were no gender differences, but significant: ethnic differences (51% among Roma/Egyptian children vs. 42% among the general sample of the children); urban/rural differences (46% rural vs. 39% urban); and socioeconomic differences (52% among children with a lower maternal education vs. 31% among children with a higher maternal education; 66% among children from poor families vs. 35% among children with a higher family income). In transitional Albania, children residing in rural areas, children from Roma and/or Egyptian communities and especially those pertinent to low socioeconomic families report considerably more barriers to access healthcare services, which is a cause of concern.
Keywords
access to healthcare; Albania; barriers; children; schoolchildren; sociodemographic factors
Subject
Public Health and Healthcare, Public Health and Health Services
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
