Inequities in access to health care in South Africa

Achieving equitable universal health coverage requires the provision of accessible, necessary services for the entire population without imposing an unaffordable burden on individuals or households. In South Africa, little is known about access barriers to health care for the general population. We explore affordability, availability, and acceptability of services through a nationally representative household survey (n4668), covering utilization, health status, reasons for delaying care, perceptions and experiences of services, and health-care expenditure. Socio-economic status, race, insurance status, and urban-rural location were associated with access to care, with black Africans, poor, uninsured and rural respondents, experiencing greatest barriers. Understanding access barriers from the user perspective is important for expanding health-care coverage, both in South Africa and in other low- and middle-income countries. © 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.