Ethnic inequalities in health intervention coverage among Mexican women at the individual and municipality levels

Disparities in Cancer Control in Central America and the Caribbean

Central America and the Caribbean is a highly heterogeneous region comprising more than 30 countries and territories with more than 200 million inhabitants. Although recent advances in the region have improved access to cancer care, there are still many disparities and barriers for obtaining high-quality cancer treatments, particularly for those from disadvantaged populations, immigrants, and rural areas. In this article, we provide an overview of cancer care in Central America and the Caribbean, with selected examples of issues related to disparities in access to care and suggest solutions and strategies to move forward.

Inequalities in health system coverage and quality: a cross-sectional survey of four Latin American countries

The premise of health as a human right in Latin America has been challenged by health system fragmentation, quality gaps, a growing burden of chronic disease, sociopolitical upheaval, and the COVID-19 pandemic. We characterised inequities in health system quality in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. We did a cross-sectional telephone survey with up to 1250 adults in each country. We created binary outcomes in coverage, user experience, system competence, and confidence in the system and calculated the slope index of inequality by income and education. Although access to care was high, only a third of respondents reported having a high-quality source of care and 25% of those with mental health needs had those needs met. Two-thirds of adults were able to access relevant preventive care and 42% of older adults were screened for cardiovascular disease. Telehealth access, communication and autonomy in most recent visit, reasonable waiting times, and receiving preventive health checks showed inequalities favouring people with a high income. In Uruguay, inequality between government and social security services explained a substantial proportion of disparities in preventive health access. In other study countries, inequalities were also substantial within government and social security subsectors. Essential health system functions are unequal in these four Latin American countries.

Reduction in contraceptive use during the COVID-19 pandemic among women in an indigenous Mexican community: a retrospective crossover study

Background

Being indigenous, being a woman, and living in poverty are social determinants that contribute to reduced access to healthcare, including reproductive health services. The COVID-19 pandemic might have exacerbated this lag.

Objective

This study explored how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the contraceptive use of a group of indigenous Mexican women and adolescents in their community.

Methods

Between June and December of 2021, 158 indigenous Mexican women who had experienced recurrent pregnancies were interviewed at two health centers in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. Participants were either pregnant when they completed the questionnaire or had been pregnant during the COVID-19 pandemic. Women were asked about their contraceptive practices before and during the pandemic. The change in contraceptive practice was estimated using a logistic model.

Results

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced contraceptive use by 50%. Among women who wanted contraception, 58% did not receive it. During the pandemic, 77% of previous contraceptive users reported difficulty obtaining contraception, and only 23% sought family planning assistance.

Conclusion

During the COVID-19 pandemic, indigenous women in the studied community used fewer contraceptive methods and did not use intrauterine devices. Additionally, there was a decline in the percentage of women using contraceptives. These results highlight the impact on indigenous populations and the difficulties they could face in accessing reproductive health services during health emergencies.

Relationship between Health Inequalities and Breast Cancer Survival in Mexican Women

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to analyze the relationship between the survival of patients with breast cancer and health inequalities.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study of women with stage III breast cancer according to public healthcare was conducted. Groups were stratified according to the course of treatment and the presence of chronic disease other than cancer. Survival functions were estimated by using the Kaplan-Meier estimator, while the Cox proportional hazards model was employed for prognostic assessment.

RESULTS

The study was performed on 964 breast cancer patients. One hundred and seventy-six patients (18.23%) died during the follow-up period and 788 (81.77%) were alive at the end of the follow-up period. Education, marital status, personal history of prior biopsies, and socioeconomic status (SES) were found to be linked with survival. However, only SES exceeded the baseline risk of mortality when the treatment cycle was interrupted (full treatment: unadjusted 4.683, p = 0.001; adjusted 4.888 p = 0.001, partial treatment: unadjusted 1.973, p = 0.012; adjusted 4.185, p = 0.001). The same effect was observed when stratifying by the presence of chronic disease other than cancer (with chronic disease adjusted HR = 4.948, p = 0.001; unadjusted HR = 3.303, p = 0.001; without chronic disease adjusted HR = 4.850, p = 0.001; unadjusted HR = 5.121, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Since lower SES was linked with a worse prognosis, strategies to promote preventive medicine, particularly breast cancer screening programs and prompt diagnosis, are needed.