Public health significance of unfulfilled health needs of the population of Serbia

Health care is a comprehensive and organized activity of society in preserving and improving the health of citizens and families. It represents society's response to unplanned and unpredictable events that endanger the health and ensure levels of health and the causes of illness. The availability of public health is determined by various factors that relate to both the patient and the health system. Health insurance coverage, coverage in staff, space, equipment and financial resources, scheduling and referral systems, quality of services provided, and continuity of health care are factors of the health system that can affect the availability of health care. However, factors such as age, socioeconomic status, previous experiences with health services, perceptions of the quality of public health, and health literacy constitute the characteristics of the individual, which may also influence their decisions to provide health care (1). One of the socio-economic aspects of health is unequal aging health care (2). A key indicator for monitoring a degree of inequality in health care, and through the approach, use, and realization of health care, is the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of clients (3). Unmet needs represent diversity in the provision of health services: needs that are considered necessary and essential for the care of specific health issues (4). Unmet public health needs affect people's health and quality of life. They can also directly alter mortality risks and/or be indirectly linked to the statuses of several psychosomatic and psychiatric illnesses today (5, 6). Numerous factors related to real unmet health needs are reflected in gender, age, lack of insurance, education, unemployment, low wages, and more. All of the above points to unequal access to health care from a socio-economic point of view. The characteristics of the health care system, such as the number of doctors or dentists, the method of payment of primary health care doctors, and the amount of money for out-of-pocket services, also have a severe impact on unmet health care needs. The results of many studies show that the frequency of unmet medical or dental needs varies significantly from country to country, which can be partly explained by differences in health care financing (6). Since inequalities in access and usage of health services are some of the determinants of health (socioeconomic, etc), public policymakers must identify these determinants to understand the specific barrie