Health resource allocation in Western China from 2014 to 2018

Health equity has persistently been a global concern. How to fairly and appropriately allocate health resources is a research hotspot. While Western China is relatively backward economically and presents difficulties for the allocation of health resources, little attention has been given to the equity of resource allocation there. This study analysed the equity of allocation of beds, physicians and nurses in Western China from 2014-2018 to provide targeted guidance for improving the equity of health resource allocation.

Data for 2014-2018 obtained from the Statistical Yearbook (2015-2019) of provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) were used to analyse health resource allocation in terms of beds, physicians and nurses in Western China. The Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient were calculated to evaluate equity in the population dimension and geographic dimension. The Theil index was used to measure the inequity of the three indicators between minority and nonminority areas.

The number of beds, physicians and nurses in Western China showed an increasing trend from 2014-2018. The Lorenz curve had a smaller curvature in the population dimension than in the geographic dimension. The Gini coefficients for health resources in the population dimension ranged from 0.044 to 0.079, and in the geographic dimension, the Gini coefficients ranged between 0.614 and 0.647. The above results showed that the equity of health resource allocation was better in the population dimension than in the geographic dimension. The Theil index ranged from 0.000 to 0.004 in the population dimension and from 0.095 to 0.326 in the geographic dimension, indicating that the inequity in health resource allocation was higher in the geographic dimension. The intergroup contribution ratios of the Theil index in both the population and geographic dimensions were greater than 60%, indicating that the inequity in resource allocation was mainly caused by intergroup differences, namely, the allocation of health resources within the province. Among them, the inequity of physicians and nurses allocation was the most obvious.

From 2014 to 2018, the total amount of health resources have improved in Western China. However, health resource allocation in Western China was still inequitable in the population and geographic dimensions, and the inequity of health resource allocation in the geographic dimension showed a tendency to worsen. Meanwhile, although the inequity of human recourse allocation was alleviated in 2018 compare with 2014, the inequity of human resource distribution within provinces was still obvious. The government can increase the number of health resources and improve the accessibility of health resources by increasing financial investment, strengthening humanistic care for health workers, and establishing internet hospitals.