Neighbourhood effect and inequality in access to essential health services among mother–child paired samples: a decomposition analysis of data from 58 low- and middle-income countries

TL;DR

This study finds that people in slums have worse access to essential health services than those in non-slum areas in many low- and middle-income countries.

Contribution

The study uses decomposition analysis to identify factors contributing to health service access inequality between slum and non-slum populations.

Findings

Slum residents had significantly worse access to essential health services in 28 of 52 low- and middle-income countries.

Household wealth and neighborhood education were major contributors to health service access inequality.

Pro-slum inequality was most pronounced in Egypt and Mali.

Abstract

Neighbourhood effect on health outcomes is well established, but little is known about its effect on access to essential health services (EHS). Therefore, this study aimed to assess the contributing factors to access to EHS in slum versus non-slum settings.

The most recent data from 58 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) conducted between 2011 and 2018 were used, including a total of 157,000 pairs of currently married women aged 15–49 and their children aged 12–23 months. We used meta-analysis techniques to examine the inequality gaps in suboptimal access to EHS between mother-children pairs living in slums and non-slums. Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique was used to identify the factors contributing to the inequality gaps in each low- and middle-income country (LMIC) included.

The percentage of mother–child pairs living in slums ranged from 0.5% in Egypt to 63.7% in Congo. Meta-analysis of proportions for the pooled sample revealed that 31.2% [27.1, 35.5] of slum residents and 20.0% [15.3, 25.2] among non-slum residents had suboptimal access to EHS. We observed significant pro-slum inequalities in suboptimal access to EHS in 28 of the 52 LMICs with sufficient data. Of the 34 African countries included, 16 showed statistically significant pro-slum inequality in suboptimal access to EHS, with the highest in Egypt and Mali (2.64 [0.84–4.44] and 1.76 [1.65, 1.87] respectively). Findings from the decomposition analysis showed that, on average, household wealth, neighbourhood education level, access to media, and neighbourhood-level illiteracy contributed mostly to slum & non-slum inequality gaps in suboptimal access to EHS.

The study showed evidence of inequality in access to EHS due to neighbourhood effects in 26 LMICs. This evidence suggests that increased focus on the urban poor might be a important for increasing access to EHS and achieving the universal health coverage (UHC) goals.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12939-024-02194-4.

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