Enhancing Healthcare Services for Vulnerable Groups

Dear Colleagues,

Equitable access to health services is a fundamental human right, yet multiple geographic, economic, sociocultural, and systemic barriers prevent this right from being realized. Despite advances in medicine and technology, disparities persist and disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, such as the elderly, low-income individuals, migrants, ethnic minorities, and those living in rural areas. This Special Issue aims to encourage research, analyze and identify main barriers and causes, and promote innovative solutions for improving health services from a holistic perspective. We seek contributions that offer innovative solutions, both at the policy level and in clinical practice. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the design of community interventions, emergency services, the use of telemedicine to reach remote areas, the implementation of culturally sensitive approaches, and the evaluation of health programs that aim to reduce barriers to access. We welcome original research (quantitative and qualitative), review articles, case reports, case series, meta-analyses, meta-synthesis studies, systematic reviews, and intervention proposals.

Topics

• Barriers to access and overcoming them: This topic focuses on the obstacles that prevent vulnerable populations from accessing medical care. Examples: geographical and transportation, economic, information and knowledge, and sociocultural-related barriers, as well as those related to beliefs and/or stigmatization.
• Role of technology and innovation: This includes challenges and opportunities of using technology in different contexts, ethical considerations, and the use of telemedicine and other technologies to improve access.
• Community care and citizen participation: This addresses the importance of involving the community in the design and implementation of health programs.
• Health policies and systems: This involves the analysis of public policies and their impact on access to health, strategies to promote equity and social justice in care, and coordination between sectors.
• Culturally sensitive care and staff training: This topic examines how training healthcare staff in cultural competence can improve health outcomes for diverse populations.
• Barriers in vulnerable groups: This involves migrant and refugee populations, persons deprived of liberty, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, children and adolescents, older adults, and persons with comorbidities.
• Care in urgent and emergency services to improve care and priority for vulnerable populations.

Dr. María del Mar Jiménez Lasserrotte
Dr. Jose Granero-Molina
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.