The phrase "a proxy for need" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe something that serves as a substitute or representation for a specific requirement or necessity.
Example: "In many cases, financial status acts as a proxy for need when determining eligibility for assistance programs."
Alternatives: "a substitute for need" or "a stand-in for need".
"Our concern," he says, "is that age is still being used as a proxy for need.
We used family income as a proxy for need.
However, dependency on demography as a proxy for need is limited to New Zealand and Stockholm.
Education as a proxy for need was not possible in our study.
This may warrant further attention, particularly if deprivation is a proxy for need, 19 58 64 since services do not appear to follow need.
In the past, demand for health care such as attendance at clinic has often been used as a proxy for need [ 32], but this approach generates various problems.
Data have been used to guide local and organizational decision making in regards to resource use and allocation [ 72, 75], which acts as a proxy for resident need.
Wealth indicator was considered an enabling factor, while visiting the health facility in the year prior to the survey was included in the model as a proxy for the need factor.
A natural objection to using under-five deaths, as well as other measures of the burden of disease, as a proxy for the need for health workers is that a high burden of disease may be caused by a low number of health workers [ 3].
While Mechanic [ 27] argues that we cannot use prevalence of mental disorders as a proxy for service need, the aggregate pattern of service use in Australia and elsewhere by those with mental health disorders would appear to be one of underuse [ 28].
Cleary et al. [[ 21]] performed a similar study on antiretroviral treatment in two urban sites in South Africa where treatment was provided at the clinic level, finding no significant difference between the SES distribution of HIV positive individuals (as a proxy for those needing ARVs) and a random sample of users of antiretroviral treatment.
