[Health equity for women in Haiti]

To describe primary health care provided to women in Haiti and evaluate equity in the care provided to this group.

In this cross-sectional study, 114 women receiving primary health care services in the country's 10 health departments were interviewed. Two groups of indicators were used for analysis of equity: access indicators (walking time to reach services, waiting time, and need to pay for the service) and quality (knowing the name of the healthcare provider, length of the consultation, and discrimination). Payment and discrimination were used as outcomes for access and quality, respectively.

Most women were younger than 30 years of age (59.0%), black (92.1%), and migrants (63.2%). Family income was known by only 21.3%, and 47,4% were literate. Most consultations lasted less than 10 minutes (68.3%). The provider's name was not known by 72.7% of the women interviewed. Consultations were paid by 63.4%, especially in the South (P = 0.016). Also, women in the South spent more time walking to reach health services. Those who did not pay had shorter consultations (P < 0.001). Finally, discrimination was detected in 28.9% of the women interviewed.

This research revealed difficulties in the access to and discrimination in the care provided to women in Haiti, and suggests that gender is an important category of analysis to evaluate health equity.