Indicator Definition
Rating of availability and quality of local health care, accessibility to foreign travellers, and general health-related risks.
Coding Methodology
The health indicator is a composite measure consisting of four sub-indicators: health care quality, accessibility, consistency, and health hazards. Each sub-indicator was coded on a separate Likert scale. Sub-indicator scores were converted to a one to seven scale using the following formula:
Where: i = sub-indicator scores and, j = country.
Quality
We defined health care quality as the standard of available services and equipment. We measured the sub-indicator by placing each country’s health care system into one of three categories based on the description available from our sources. We coded each category on a three-point Likert scale using the following criteria:
|
Quality Coding Criteria |
Score |
|
Very low or marginal quality medical services with access to basic equipment or less |
3 |
|
Good quality for most medical services with access to good equipment |
2 |
|
High-quality medical services with access to state of the art equipment |
1 |
Accessibility
We defined health care accessibility as availability of services including specialist services to foreign travellers. We measured the sub-indicator by placing each country’s health care system into one of three categories based on the description available from our sources. We coded each category on a three-point Likert scale using the following criteria:
|
Accessibility Coding Criteria |
Score |
|
Limited access to medical services available to treat basic injuries/illnesses with very few or no specialists |
3 |
|
Most medical services are accessible but only a small fraction of personnel speak English; Specialists are available but are in high demand and difficult to access |
2 |
|
All medical services are accessible with a large number of specialists. |
1 |
Consistency
We define consistency as the degree to which the health care system’s quality and accessibility are consistent in different sub-national locations throughout each country. We measured the sub-indicator by placing each country’s health care system into one of two categories based on the description available from our sources. We coded each category on a two-point Likert scale using the following criteria:
|
Consistency Coding Criteria |
Code Score |
|
Health care system is inconsistent with some locations, regions, or areas better serviced than most of the country |
1 |
|
Health care system is consistent in all locations across the country |
0 |
Health Hazards*
We defined health hazards as the risks foreign travellers face for contracting communicable diseases or other health hazards for each period observed. Our data came from the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) Travel Health Notices. The CDC publishes notices for specific countries when a health risk is present. We measured the sub-indicator by placing each country’s health hazard into one of two categories based on whether or not the CDC had issued a notice for that country for the years we measured. We coded each category on a two-point Likert scale using the following criteria:
|
Health Hazards Coding Criteria |
Code Score |
|
Health hazards present risk in this country |
1 |
|
Health hazards do not present risk in this country |
0 |
* Health Hazards was added to the health sub-indicator in 2014.
Data Imputation
No data was imputed for this indicator.
Source
Center for Disease Control, Destinations Travel Heath Notice