Socioeconomic determinants of inequalities in access to healthcare in two health districts of the Central Region of Cameroon
1 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O Box 1364, Melen, Yaounde, Cameroon.
2 Health Economics and Policy Research and Evaluation for Development Results Groups (HEREG), Yaoundé, P.O. Box 8119, Yaoundé 5, Cameroon.
Research Article
International Journal of Frontiers in Life Science Research, 2025, 08(02), 001-015.
Article DOI: 10.53294/ijflsr.2025.8.2.0026
Publication history:
Received on 30 June 2025; revised on 17 August 2025; accepted on 19 August 2025
Abstract:
Introduction: Health inequalities originate from multiple determinants and have accumulated over the years, thereby impacting access to and use of health services. In low-income countries, significant inequalities exist, with barriers being geographic, economic, or sociocultural. Despite the implementation of structured health policies with the support of technical and financial partners, the opportunity to eliminate inequalities thereby providing quality healthcare to patients remains a real challenge in Cameroon. The objective of this study was to analyze socioeconomic determinants of inequalities in access to healthcare in two districts of the Central Region of Cameroon.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two health districts namely Biyem-Assi and Mbankomo in the Centre Region of Cameroon. Three study populations were interviewed during data collection, including health facilities, the populations of these health districts and the staff of the various health structures. Quantitative data analysis was carried out using IBM-SPSS 23.0 software. The chi-square test was applied to compare proportions with a significance level set at 0.05.
Results: The results pointed out that the sex ratio of the study population consisting of people living in the two health districts was 0.69 respectively. The average age was 38.5 with a standard deviation of 14.4. The study population consisting of healthcare personnel had a sex ratio of 0.26 and an average age of 34.4 with a standard deviation of 10.16. The status of less qualified health workers was 22.7% in Biyem-Assi compared to 54.5% in Mbankomo. The population of Biyem-Assi traveled less than 5 km to get to the health facilities, while in Mbankomo they mostly traveled 5 to 10 km. The main reason for access constraints was the time taken to reach the health centers at 85.7% in Biyem-Assi, while in Mbankomo, the constraints were related to financial difficulties at 58.3%. About 11.4% of the populations of Biyem-Assi were insured compared to 4.5% in Mbankomo. In the event of minor illness, self-medication was used, estimated at 40.9% in Biyem-Assi while in Mbankomo, they used traditional medicine at 45.5%. The highest rate of absenteeism among staff in health facilities was observed mainly among specialist doctors, with an attendance rate of 94.8% in Biyem-Assi compared to 5.2% in Mbankomo. The female representation of specialists was 38.8% in Biyem-Assi compared to none in Mbankomo.
Conclusion: Despite the descriptive knowledge of many determinants of access to healthcare, disparities persist, thereby producing health outcomes incompatible with those targeted by the Millennium Development Goals. Thus, the need for structural adaptations should be addressed to enable these populations to benefit from the right sequence and at the right time from the differences in professional skills related to healthcare.
Keywords:
Socioeconomic Determinants; Health Inequalities; Access to Healthcare; District; Cameroon
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