Barriers to Accessing Health Care Among Young People in 30 Low-middle Income Countries

Background: Previous studies focusing on high-income countries have shown that young people often face greater barriers to accessing healthcare than older adults. However, in low-middle income countries (LMICs), there have been a paucity of cross-country, quantitative studies highlighting these barriers.

Aim: This exploratory study aims to provide a scoping review of the publicly available Demographic and Heath Survey (DHS) data with a view to form the basis for further work.

Materials And Methods: Data on insurance coverage, agency, and access to evidence-based family planning from 30 countries in the DHS were compared between age groups. Data on 586,250 participants 15-24 years (33% male) and 854,660 participants 25-49 years (16% male) from 30 LMICs were analyzed.

Results: Significantly greater barriers to accessing healthcare were observed across six variables in younger population when compared to older adults across all survey questions with an average of 8.4% point difference. Also, there was wide country-level variation: the maximum differences between age groups were 33% points; Rwanda was the only country with no age differences.

Discussion: This study highlights several possible themes for future research into improving access to healthcare for young people. These themes include more detailed evaluation of country-specific policies to reduced barriers to healthcare for young people and further research into the causative factors that can influence healthcare utilization by young people.

Conclusion: Our analysis showcases increased barriers to healthcare access for young people in LMICs. We argue that they can only be improved by targeted policies and direct community engagement.