The ecology of health care in a Belgian area

Focusing on the monthly prevalence of health problems and recourse to different levels of care of the population is an interesting approach to demonstrate the respective roles of different levels of health care. In the present study, the ecology of health care was studied in the region of Liège, Belgium.

A survey questioning people about their health problems was conducted in 2009 in two communes of the province of Liège. For each health problem, 'health care' was defined as contact with any qualified care provider. For each consultation, three elements were recorded: the profession of the health care provider; the place where the care was provided and the kind of health care received.

A total of 537 people were interviewed. The monthly prevalence of people who experienced a health problem during the previous month was 85.1%. The monthly prevalence of people who turned to a health care provider at least once during the month was 62.2%. The proportion of people turning to doctors, primarily local doctors, for a simple consultation was important (49.2%).

Our results are highly comparable with those of other studies. Recourse to a doctor is high (49%), which probably reflects the broad accessibility of health care in Belgium and maybe its overuse. Additional questions on the current and future organisation of the Belgian health care system are debated.