Women’s access to health care: Gaps that the future health care reform in Chile must solve

Abstract

Introduction In the Chilean health system, difficulties complicate women’s access to health care and aggravate the complexity of health-illness processes in their interaction as users or caregivers. Objective In the national and international literature, we aimed to identify gaps in women’s access to health care derived from gender disparities and the exercise of gender roles in a prioritized set of health problems. These problems exacerbate gender gaps and should be considered in health reform. Methods We made a literature review through algorithms, snowball sampling, and reference lists from November 2020 to March 2021. The population included were women of all ages, including women users of the health system and women caregivers of specific pathologies. The search was conducted in parallel by four investigators divided into two groups. It was cross-validated to ensure inter-investigator reliability by standardizing evidence eligibility criteria. The analysis showed women users' and caregivers' dimensions for a set of pathologies prioritized by the extent of the disease burden. The pathologies analyzed included stroke, obesity, depression, musculoskeletal pain, and breast cancer. Results Among women users of the health system, problems of access, rates of use, experience, and outcome for the whole group of prioritized pathologies were observed. In the women caregiver dimension, we found that women are the primary health care providers. There is a knowledge gap concerning obesity and musculoskeletal conditions. However, both were reported as health consequences of women’s caregiving roles.