The Health-Income Gap: To what extent does inequality explain the living situation of people with spinal cord injury (SCI)

Income is linked to health, longevity and access to public services. Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is a permanent damage to a portion of the spinal cord. Its consequences are often permanent and generate high cost to both the individual and the society. Living with SCI has many challenges that can determine the survival rates. This Ph.D. project aims to explain to what extent differences in the living situation of people with SCI, measured by different health outcomes, can be attributed to socio-economic inequalities. In a first stage, this research will use the International Spinal Cord Injury (InSCI) to estimate the survival (selection) bias of the sample and its correlation with income inequality. In a second stage, it will analyze how the access to health services can explain such differences. And in the last part, the thesis will focus on how socio-economic differences explain activity and participation for people with SCI. This research contributes to the WHO Global Disability Action Plan 2014-2021 to understand the living conditions of people with disabilities, and it provides a guiding route on how to improve their living situation.

Keywords: health inequalities, spinal cord injury, health-income gap, disability impairments, community survey, unmet health care needs

Short Biography

Ana is PhD student in the Health Services & Care Unit at Swiss Paraplegic Research since August 2019. She is working with the International Spinal Cord Injury survey (InSCI) analyzing how income inequality explains sample biases. Her background is in Economics (Bachelor) and Statistics (MSc). She has long experience working in public and private institutions in Latin America. Her research interests include health economics, applied economics, income inequality and public policy.

Ana Lucía Oña Macías
Swiss Paraplegic Research AG
University of Lucerne

analucia.onamacias@paraplegie.ch

Supervisor: Armin Gemperli