ArticlePloS one2023
Impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilization, cases, and deaths of citizens and displaced Venezuelans in Colombia: Complementary comprehensive and safety-net systems under Colombia's constitutional commitment.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Forced displacement, household composition, and mental health: how gendered family structures relate to adolescent girls' well-being.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- A scoping review of the available literature on the epidemiologic profile of migrants in-transit through South America, Central America, and Mexico from 2013-2025.Journal of migration and health · 2026Review
- The Impact of Regularization Policies on Health Access: Examining Female Venezuelan Migrants' Access and Utilization of Healthcare Services in Colombia.Health systems and reform · 2025Article
- Universal public health insurance for Afghan refugees in Iran: a contextual analysis.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- The public health challenges of female migration: the Venezuelan diaspora in Andean countries.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Disparities in healthcare-seeking behaviors and associated costs between Venezuelan migrants and Colombians residing in Colombia.International journal for equity in health · 2024Article
- Strategies to improve the implementation and effectiveness of community-based psychosocial support interventions for displaced, migrant and host community women in Latin America.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveColombia hosts 1.8 million displaced Venezuelans, the second highest number of displaced persons globally. Colombia's constitution entitles all residents, including migrants, to life-saving health care, but actual performance data are rare. This study assessed Colombia's COVID-era achievements.
methodsWe compared utilization of comprehensive (primarily consultations) and safety-net (primarily hospitalization) services, COVID-19 case rates, and mortality between Colombian citizens and Venezuelans in Colombia across 60 municipalities (local governments). We employed ratios, log transformations, correlations, and regressions using national databases for population, health services, disease surveillance, and deaths. We analyzed March through November 2020 (during COVID-19) and the corresponding months in 2019 (pre-COVID-19).
resultsCompared to Venezuelans, Colombians used vastly more comprehensive services than Venezuelans (608% more consultations), in part due to their 25-fold higher enrollment rates in contributory insurance. For safety-net services, however, the gap in utilization was smaller and narrowed. From 2019 to 2020, Colombians' hospitalization rate per person declined by 37% compared to Venezuelans' 24%. In 2020, Colombians had only moderately (55%) more hospitalizations per person than Venezuelans. In 2020, rates by municipality between Colombians and Venezuelans were positively correlated for consultations (r = 0.28, p = 0.04) but uncorrelated for hospitalizations (r = 0.10, p = 0.46). From 2019 to 2020, Colombians' age-adjusted mortality rate rose by 26% while Venezuelans' rate fell by 11%, strengthening Venezuelans' mortality advantage to 14.5-fold.
conclusionsThe contrasting patterns between comprehensive and safety net services suggest that the complementary systems behaved independently. Venezuelans' lower 2019 mortality rate likely reflects the healthy migrant effect (selective migration) and Colombia's safety net healthcare system providing Venezuelans with reasonable access to life-saving treatment. However, in 2020, Venezuelans still faced large gaps in utilization of comprehensive services. Colombia's 2021 authorization of 10-year residence to most Venezuelans is encouraging, but additional policy changes are recommended to further integrate Venezuelans into the Colombian health care system.
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