Georeferencing provision of public health programs in four Colombian cities within the context of the competitive market of the health system, 2014

Objective: To describe the geographical location of public health programs offered by public and private institutions providing health services in four Colombian cities. Methodology: Descriptive cross-sectional study based on information from the Ministry of Health of institutions that provide public health programs. Results: More private than public institutions offer public health programs, but the former are concentrated on the population and zones with better socioeconomic conditions. In contrast, poor population depends almost exclusively on public sector institutions. Conclusion: In a competitive market system, population and city zones are segmented according to their socioeconomic level, and it is not attractive for the private sector to provide public health services to poorer populations.