Access and equity in health services: a structured review

ABSTRACT

Literature review article on the organization of Primary Health Care services in its dimensions of access and equity. The articles were identified in the databases of the Virtual Health Library (Centro Latino-Americano e do Caribe de Informação em Ciências da Saúde - Bireme); Keywords: 'access to health services' and 'equity'; period: 1993 to 2013. Of the 31 articles found, 29 are in portuguese, one in english and one in spanish, published by 16 different journals; 18 articles (58.06 %) refer to the organization of health services and 13 (41.94 %) to equity. The majority (80.64 %) used qualitative approach. More studies are needed in order to assess whether health systems had measurable impacts in terms of access and equity.

KEYWORDS
Access to health services; Equity; Primary Health Care