Ferraz, DiogoMariano, Enzo BarberioManzine, Patricia ReginaMoralles, Herick FernandoMorceiro, Paulo CésarTorres, Bruno GuimarãesAlmeida, Mariana Rodrigues deMello, João Carlos Soares deRebelatto, Daisy Aparecida do Nascimento2022-06-102022-06-102021FERRAZ, D. et al. COVID health structure index: the vulnerability of Brazilian microregions. Social Indicators Research, v. 158, p. 197-215, maio 2021. Disponível em: <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-021-02699-3>. Acesso em: 24 maio 2022.1573-0921http://www.repositorio.ufop.br/jspui/handle/123456789/14967Many developing countries have highly unequal health systems across their regions. The pandemic of COVID-19 brought an additional challenge, as hospital structures equipped with doctors, intensive care units and respirators are not available to a sufcient extent in all regions. Using Data Envelopment Analysis, we create a COVID Index to verify whether the hospital structures in 543 Brazilian microregions are adequate to deal with COVID-19 and to verify whether public policies were implemented in the right direction. The results indicate that hospital structures in the poorest microregions were the most vulnerable, although the peak of COVID-19 occurred in the richest microregions (Sao Paulo). The Southeast states could relocate hospital resources or even patients between their regions. The relocation was not possible in many states in the Northeast, as the health system poorly assisted the interior of these states. These fndings reveal that the heterogeneity of microre- gions’ hospital structures follows the patterns of socioeconomic inequalities. We conclude that it is easier for the wealthier regions to reallocate hospital resources internally than for the poorest regions. By using the COVID Index, policymakers and hospital managers have straightforward information to decide which regions must receive new investments and reallocate underutilized resources.en-USabertoCoronavirus pandemicHealth serviceDecision indexData Envelopment Analysis - DEAArtigo publicado em periodicoThis article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. Fonte: o PDF do artigo.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02699-3