Factors associated with COVID-19 vaccination in Belize.

Background: We analyzed the factors associated with vaccine uptake, vaccination intention, and reasons for vaccine hesitancy in Belize.

Methods: We collected a nationally representative household survey of the population in Belize aged 15 years and older (September-October 2021). We compared potential correlates between vaccinated and unvaccinated people using Chi-square tests.

Qualitative study of in-kind incentives to improve healthcare quality in Belize: Is quality work better than wealth?

Background: There is a sparsity of knowledge of the specific mechanisms through which financial and non-financial incentives impact the performance of health teams. This study aims to address this knowledge gap by examining an in-kind incentives program for healthcare teams implemented in three districts in Belize (2012-2022) as part of the Salud Mesoamerica Initiative, which aimed to improve healthcare quality.

Methods: We performed a qualitative study to understand the mechanisms through which the in-kind incentive program supported quality improvement in Belize.

Protecting households from catastrophic health spending.

Many countries rely heavily on patients' out-of-pocket payments to providers to finance their health care systems. This prevents some people from seeking care and results in financial catastrophe and impoverishment for others who do obtain care. Surveys in eighty-nine countries covering 89 percent of the world's population suggest that 150 million people globally suffer financial catastrophe annually because they pay for health services.