Equity of intensive care unit bed resource allocation in ethnic minority areas of China-an empirical analysis based on geographical and population dimensions.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to analyse the changes in the equity of intensive care unit (ICU) bed allocation in 14 cities in China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from 2018 to 2021, to identify the problems in the process of ICU bed allocation in China's ethnic minority regions.

Design: The Gini coefficient, Theil index, health resource density index, and spatial correlation analysis were used to analyse the current status of ICU bed resource allocation and allocation equity in Guangxi, China, on two dimensions: geography, and population.

Setting: The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Results: The number of ICU beds configured by geographic and population dimensions in Guangxi basically showed a growing trend. The ICU bed allocation by population dimensions was in a state of absolute equity, and the equity of geographic dimension was in a state of basic reasonableness. The contribution rate of intraregional differences is higher than that of inter-regional differences. There is a localised spatial aggregation of ICU bed resource allocation, with a low health resource density index and a higher proportion of lack of ICU beds in cities with a high concentration of ethnic minority populations, such as Hechi, Chongzuo, Baise, Hezhou, and Laibin.

Conclusions: The total amount of ICU bed resources increased, but the regional distribution was not balanced. The equity of ICU beds allocated by population and economy was better than that by geography, the unfairness of ICU bed allocation was mainly caused by intraregional differences, and the lack of the number of ICU beds was greater in the economically underdeveloped ethnic minority areas. Exchanges and cooperation between regions should be strengthened to promote the coordinated development of ICU bed resources between regions.