The Impact of Universal Health Care Programmes on Improving 'Realized Access' to Care for Depression in Chile

Universal health care programmes have the potential to reduce treatment gaps. We explored the potential impact of an equity-oriented universal health care programme on access to care for depression, hypertension and diabetes using data from two nationally representative health surveys in Chile. The likelihood a depressed individual had accessed health care appears to have increased significantly after the programme was introduced whereas those for hypertension and diabetes remained unchanged. Depressed women seem to have benefited mostly from the programme. Universal health care programmes for depression could substantially increase coverage and reduce inequities in access to health care in middle-income countries.