Ana San-Bento, Public Health Physician and assistant to the Clinical Direction for Primary Healthcare at ULS Região de Leiria, participated as a speaker at the VII National Congress of Public Health Physicians. Her intervention took place at the round table titled "Who guarantees access to health in Portugal?", where she addressed the issue of equitable access to healthcare.
In an interview with HealthNews, San-Bento argued that equitable access to health requires going beyond open doors, suggesting that merely opening services is not sufficient to guarantee true equity in access. The physician emphasized the need to look beyond the simple availability of health services.
According to the specialist, health literacy constitutes the main risk of inequality in access to healthcare. This lack of knowledge among the population about health issues represents a significant challenge for the Portuguese health system.
Regarding future indicators, Ana San-Bento pointed to screenings as one of the main indicators to monitor by 2030, suggesting that the effectiveness of screening programs will be fundamental to evaluating progress in health access equity in Portugal.
