Multi-criteria decision analysis as a tool for evaluation of unmet needs in health care
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2018
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
EDP Sciences
Abstract
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals appointthat all Member States have agreed to try to achieve Universal HealthCoverage by 2030. This includes financial risk protection, access to qualityessential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality andaffordable essential medicines for all. The World Health Organisation hasdefined the Universal Health Coverage as a priority, which means that allpeople can use the preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative healthcare services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while alsoensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financialhardship. The classic approach of the unmet medical needs is definedas the total self-reported unmet needs for medical care for the followingthree reasons: financial barriers, waiting times, too far to travel. Accordingto the Eurostat data, overall range of unmet medical needs in Latvia isthe highest of the European Union countries, however, the accessibilityof health services depends on a multitude of factors that relate to thehealth system and also to the patients themselves. Therefore the Multi-criteria decision analysis approach could be acceptable for assessment ofthe unmet medical needs. The data on unmet medical needs for Latviashould be additionally evaluated, taking into account the “therapeutic need”,which refers to the need for a better treatment than the treatment currentlyreimbursed, from the perspective of the patient. Apart from therapeutic need,the concept of societal need should be investigated, which refers to theneed for a better treatment than the currently available treatment for societalreasons.
Description
Keywords
health care, unmet needs, multi-criteria decision analysis, 3.3 Health sciences, 3.1. Articles or chapters in proceedings/scientific books indexed in Web of Science and/or Scopus database
Citation
Araja, D 2018, Multi-criteria decision analysis as a tool for evaluation of unmet needs in health care. in U Berķis & L Vilka (eds), SHS Web of Conferences : 6th International Interdisciplinary Scientific Conference SOCIETY. HEALTH. WELFARE (Part II). vol. 51, 02001, SHS Web of Conferences, EDP Sciences, 6th International Interdisciplinary Scientific Conference "Society. Health. Welfare", Riga, Latvia, 23/11/16. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20185102001
conference
conference