Access and Equity in the AHCS

Question 1

WHAT IS MEANT BY ACCESS AND EQUITY?

Answer 1

• Can you actually access (find, get, have)
  care?
• Is the care you get the same as another person with the same issue would get?
• Is what you get the same as what you need?

Question 2

ACCESS, EQUITY AND HEALTH OUTCOMES

Answer 2

Are significantly worse for the following groups:
* Indigenous people
* Rural and remote communities
* People from non-English speaking backgrounds
* People with mental health issues and disabilities
* People from low socioeconomic groups

Question 3

HOW CAN WE MEASURE HEALTH OF A POPULATION?

Answer 3

Health Indicators
* Measurable and comparable over time
* Mortality indicators
* Morbidity indicators
* Disability indicators
* Nutritional indicators
* Social and mental health indicators
* Health system indicators
* Health determinants

Question 4

HEALTH INDICATORS

Answer 4

• Life Expectancy (mortality indicator)
• Diabetes prevalence (morbidity indicator)
• Food insecurity (nutrition indicator)
• Smoking (health determinant)

Question 5

MORTALITY INDICATOR LIFE EXPECTANCY

Answer 5

• Life expectancy measures how long, on average, a person is expected to live based on current age and sex-specific death rates.
• It is often expressed as the number of years of life a person born today is expected to live.

Question 6

NUTRITION INDICATOR: FOOD INSECURITY

Answer 6

• Uncertainty of having sufficient nutritious food
• Strong indicator of status and health consequences
• Often “hidden” due to stigma

Question 7

WHO EXPERIENCES FOOD INSECURITY?

Answer 7

• Low-income earners,
• people who are socially or geographically isolated,
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,
• culturally and linguistically diverse groups,
• single-parent households,
• older people and
• people experiencing homelessness.

Question 8

ACCESS AND EQUITY

Answer 8

Access
* can individuals get the health care?

Equity
* are health care services distributed fairly according to need?