Equity of Health Resources Allocation in Minority Regions of Sichuan Province

Objective To determine equity of health resources allocation in minority regions of Sichuan province from 2009 to 2013. Methods Health resources distribution equity among populations and across geographic catchments were measured using coefficients of Inter-Individual differences and Individual-Mean differences. Results Health resources, especially human resources, in minority regions increased slowly over the years. Poorer allocation equity was found in nursing resources compared with doctors and hospital beds. Better distribution equity was found among populations than across geographic catchments. High levels of equity in resource distributions among populations and across geographic catchments were found in Aba. In Liangshan, more equitable distributions were found in doctors and hospital beds compared with nurses. The rest of minority regions had poor absolute allocation equity in doctors and hospital beds among populations. Conclusion Appropriate allocation of health resources can promote health development. Health resources allocation in minority regions of Sichuan province is unreasonable. The government and relevant departments should take actions to optimize health resources allocations.