health sociology, health for all, barriers to health care, culture and health , availability of health service , accessibility of health service, acceptability of health service, public health,

1. Availability, accessibility and
acceptability in health services
Dr Gargi Sinha
MBBS (Lady Hardinge Medical College ,New Delhi ),
Grad. Dip. Public Health (Edith Cowan University ,Australia)

2. Purpose
For improvement in health
services ,it is important to
understand the concept of
• availability
• accessibility
• acceptability
Acceptability
accessibility
availability

3. Availability
It means any health care
facility should be
• in sufficient quantity for a
given population

4. Accessibility
It means any health care facility should be
 Accessible for everyone
 Example, if a breast screening program conducted in a
city ,it may be possible that women from rural and
remote area cannot reach to the screening program
due to distance or lack of transport
 Hence, beast screening is available but
not accessible

5. Dimension of accessibility
Physical accessibility
Non
discrimination
Information accessibility
affordability

6. How acceptability is an important
component?
Example- It may be possible in some culture,
not to visit opposite gender health practitioner for
consultation . Hence , health services need to be
sensitive regarding such matter
Notice that a health service may be available and accessible
however without acceptability of a service , people might
not use the service .

7. Conclusion
Drawing from above analysis , providing equitable health for all it is
important to
• Identify the factors such as structural and cultural .
• Core attention should be given to vulnerable and margin
Overall, to ensure right for health ,the understanding of
availability ,accessibility and acceptability is essential for health
practitioners

8. Reference
Germov, J. (2014). Second opinion: an introduction to health sociology (Vol. Fifth;5;5th;).
Australia: Oxford University Press.
World Health Organisation. The right to health. Retrieved from
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/ESCR/Health/RightToHealthWHOFS2.pdf