Resumen

FUENTES REVERON, Susset. Access to health services: general theoretical considerations, and reflections for Cuba. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2017, vol.43, n.2, pp.272-286. ISSN 0864-3466.

The present work makes a theoretical approach to the issue of access to health services, with the aim of critically analyzing its study and situation in the Cuban case. It is based on the documentary analysis of sources, related to the international context (specifically in the theoretical-methodological) and also to the national, from the triangulation of information of political-programmatic documents, statistics, the written press, and investigative results. The discussion highlights the existence, in the Cuban academic debate, of gaps and inadequacies in the approaches to this topic, and the need to rethink the theoretical and methodological order that allows an approach capable of capturing the multiple complexities of this issue. In Cuba, although there is a universal and free health system, various sources and actors identify problems of access to services that must be seen and taken into account from the academic and political spheres. The reality of the functioning of the services is pointing to the essential approach of this question, taking into account the problems related to the benefits system, but also those related to issues external to the services that may be favoring or limiting the existence of barriers to access.

Palabras clave : Access; quality; health services; barriers to access; Cuba; theoretical and methodological challenges.

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