Chile among the top 50 countries with high access to healthcare
Chile ranked 48th in a study evaluating the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) in 195 countries from 1990 to 2015. The study has been published in “The Lancet” which focused on 32 pathologies that could have been avoided with timely and effective medical care such as vaccines, routine surgeries or curative treatments.
Andorra ranked 1 globally, with 95 points on a scale ranging from 0 to 100. This was followed by Iceland (94) and Switzerland (92). Somalia (34), Afghanistan (32) and Central African Republic (29) were the bottom three countries.
Chile with 76 points ranked top amongst the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LATAM) followed by Cuba (74) and Argentina (68).
Amongst the LATAM countries, Guatemala (56), Honduras (56) and Haiti (38) were last in the ranking.
The model developed by Dr. Christopher Murray (USA) analyzed the evolution of the HAQ Index between 1990 and 2015 for each country. Of the 195 countries analyzed, 167 had significant improvements.
Study shows that in 1990 Chile scored 58.5. Chile focused on preventable diseases with high mortality.
The Ministry of Health emphasized in the 1990s on vaccination coverage to prevent infectious diseases such as measles, diphtheria and tetanus. Increasing public spending on health translating into more services for the population, including the strengthening of infrastructure and primary care. Also, all citizens of Chile have health coverage.
