ABSTRACT
Introduction: access to health care is one of the main goals in all societies. This study aimed to investigate the access level in provinces in Iran
Methods: this descriptive-applied and cross-sectional study was conducted in 2012. Statistical population consisted of all provinces in Iran. Data were collected through library and online research. The Ministry of Health and Medical Education and Statistics Center of Iran as authorities of Information, were referred to for collecting relevant data. Taxonomy techniques were used to assess the of development level of provinces, Shannon entropy techniques were used to determine the weights of indicators and TOPSIS techniques were employed to rank states in terms of access to health care
Results: based on Taxonomy technique from among 31 provinces, 12 provinces were considered to be developed, 9 semi-developed and 10 underdeveloped. Based on Shannon entropy, the ratio of the number of pharmacists to province population was the most important indicator. According to TOPSIS, in term of access to health services; Markazi and Ardabil provinces ranked the first and the last respectively
Conclusion: due to the large differences among provinces, planners and officials are recommended to allocate the funds according to the development level
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Unmet needs are defined as the difference between services judged necessary to deal appropriately with health problems and services actually received. Unmet needs are considered as simple tools in monitoring the accessibility and the extent of inequity in access and use of health care
Methods: This is a cross-section health survey. The sample consists of 792 households living in Tehran. Data were collected by the WHO [households] questionnaire in 2012, and were analyzed using Logistic Model and STATA12 software
Results: The outcomes show that economical problems, lack of time, self-treatment, long distance to reach health facilities, deprivation of insurance coverage, and lack of adequate information about the locations of health care centres are all factors affecting patients' willingness to refer to these centres. The socio-economic factors which can enhance the probability of fulfilment of health care needs were found to be settlement ownership and poverty reduction
Conclusion: Unmet needs can cause detrimental effects, such as worsening health situation and quality of life, increasing the risk of mortality and causing mental and psychosomatic disorders; therefore, policy makers should give high priority to eliminating socio-economic barriers, as lack of insurance coverage, as well as reducing the costs and economic inequalities, and payment systems reform