Health Care for People with Disabilities in the Unified Health System in Brazil: A Scoping Review

Márcia Andrea Oliveira da Cunha, Helena Fernandes Santos, Maria Eduarda Lima de Carvalho, Gabriella Morais Duarte Miranda, Maria do Socorro Veloso de Albuquerque, Raquel Santos de Oliveira, Adrião Filho Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, Loveday Penn-Kekana, Hannah Kuper and Tereza Maciel Lyra
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Márcia Andrea Oliveira da Cunha: Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Pernambuco, Recife 50100-130, Brazil
Helena Fernandes Santos: Political Science Department, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife 50070-460, Brazil
Maria Eduarda Lima de Carvalho: Post-Graduation in Public Health, Aggeu Magalhães Institute, FIOCRUZ, Recife 50670-420, Brazil
Gabriella Morais Duarte Miranda: Academic Area of Public Health, Center for Medical Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife 50070-460, Brazil
Maria do Socorro Veloso de Albuquerque: Academic Area of Public Health, Center for Medical Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife 50070-460, Brazil
Raquel Santos de Oliveira: Academic Area of Public Health, Center for Medical Sciences, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife 50070-460, Brazil
Adrião Filho Cavalcanti de Albuquerque: Recife Health Department, Recife 50080-000, Brazil
Loveday Penn-Kekana: Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Hannah Kuper: Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
Tereza Maciel Lyra: Department of Collective Health, Aggeu Magalhães Institute, FIOCRUZ, Recife 50670-420, Brazil

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: People with disabilities have greater need for healthcare on average, but often face barriers when accessing these services. The Brazilian government launched the National Health Policy for People with Disabilities (PNSPD) in 2002 to address this inequality. PNSPD has six areas of focus: quality of life, impairment prevention, comprehensive health care, organization and functioning of health services, information mechanisms, and training of human resources. The aim of this article was to undertake a scoping review to assess the evidence on the experience of people with disabilities in Brazil with respect to the six themes of the PNSPD. The scoping review included articles published between 2002 and 2019, from four electronic databases: PUBMED/MEDLINE, LILACS, Science Direct, and Scielo. In total, 8076 articles were identified, and after review of titles, abstracts, and full texts by two independent reviewers, 98 were deemed eligible for inclusion. The evidence was relatively limited in availability and scope. However, it consistently showed large gaps in delivery of healthcare to people with disabilities across the six dimensions considered. There was lack of actions aimed at promoting quality of life; insufficient professional training about disability; little evidence on the health profile of people with disabilities; large gaps in the availability of care due to widespread physical, informational, and attitudinal barriers; and poor distribution of the supply and integration of services. In conclusion, the policy framework in Brazil is supportive of the inclusion of people with disabilities in health services; however, large inequalities remain due to poor implementation of the policy into practice.

Keywords: disability; healthcare access; health policy; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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