Factors Associated with Accessibility in Seven Peruvian Primary Health Care Facilities

Abstract

Introduction: There is limited evidence on factors associated with access to health primary health care services in users of marginal urban areas of Lima, Peru. Objective: To determine factors associated with access to primary health care services in Lima, Peru. Material and Methods: Cross-sectional study in users treated at seven primary health care facilities in a marginal urban area of Lima, Peru in 2019. A questionnaire was used to measure accessibility to health services; demographic and socioeconomic factors and characteristics of health services were investigated as well. Simple and multiple regression analyses were performed, estimating prevalence ratios. Results: Out of a total of 150 participants, 85.2% had access to health services. Female gender was positively associated with access to health services (aPR:1.17, 95% CI:1.11-1.23). Secondary education (aPR:0.65, 95% CI:0.44-0.98) and higher technical education or armed forces (aPR:0.64, 95%CI:0.46-0.89) were negatively associated with access to health services. On the other hand, we found that waiting time for care reduces the possibility of accessing health care; in case wait time is more than 30 minutes (aPR:0.83, 95% CI: 0.77-0.95), more than one hour (RPa:0.85, CI95%:0.75-0.95) and more than two hours (RPa:0.84, CI95%:0.75-0.93). Conclusions: The majority of users treated at the Primary Health Care facilities had access to health services. Having a higher educational level and reporting a longer waiting time for care were associated with a lower frequency of accessibility, while being a woman was associated with a higher frequency of accessibility. Key words: Health services, primary health care, health services accessibility, delivery of health care, public health.