Pandemic and regional health disparities in Peru: 1997-2020

Abstract

This article aimed to show the causality between regional inequalities and mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due to the presence of regional disparities that generated the absence of policies to reduce said regional inequalities. For this, the health sector was analyzed by region in terms of budget, number of doctors, number of nurses and number of hospitals. These disparities are reflected in the mortality caused by the pandemic. In the research, the quantitative research approach and the hypothetical-deductive method were used, with a simple retrospective ex post facto non-experimental design with data from secondary sources. And it was found that there is a high statistical significance between regional inequalities and mortality from COVID-19, where Lima is 17 times the average size of the health systems of the rest of the regions. Likewise, a reduction in budget inequality has been found, measured with the GINI index, where it went from 0.30 in 1997 to 0.16 in 2018. Likewise, the budget per capita by region increased significantly, where in average terms it grew by 78% from 1997 to 2018. But, all this has not been enough to successfully face the pandemic, quite the contrary. In conclusion, the economic model did not generate an adequate infrastructure to face the COVID-19 pandemic and there is a great disparity in health coverage between regions.