Multidimensional Inequalities in Health Care Distribution in Provincial China: A Case Study of Henan Province

This paper analyses multidimensional inequalities in health care distribution for H enan P rovince in central C hina. The paper has two objectives: (1) examining the multi‐scale health care inequality in H enan from two dimensions, urban‐rural and core‐periphery and (2) revealing the spatial effects of C hina's multiple transitions, provincial development strategies, and local economic development on health care distribution. The authors used geographic information systems‐based spatial statistical methods to detect the spatial‐temporal variation of health care distribution, and applied geographically weighted regression to reveal the effects of multiple transitions on the health care sector. The results illustrate that urban‐rural and core‐periphery gaps in H enan are still significant even though health care reforms and recent provincial policies have improved the access of rural and peripheral areas to health care. Health care inequality is sensitive to geographical scale and clustering, and spatial patterns of health care are shaped by the interwoven forces at national, provincial, and local scales.