|
|
||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||
THEORY AND METHODS |
1 Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, USA
2 International Health and Human Rights Program, Francois Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard University School of Public Health, USA
Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr P Braveman, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, 500 Parnassus Avenue, MU-3E, San Francisco, California, 94143-0900, USA;
pbrave{at}itsa.ucsf.edu
Study objective: To propose a definition of health equity to guide operationalisation and measurement, and to discuss the practical importance of clarity in defining this concept.
Design: Conceptual discussion.
Setting, Patients/Participants, and Main results: not applicable.
Conclusions: For the purposes of measurement and operationalisation, equity in health is the absence of systematic disparities in health (or in the major social determinants of health) between groups with different levels of underlying social advantage/disadvantagethat is, wealth, power, or prestige. Inequities in health systematically put groups of people who are already socially disadvantaged (for example, by virtue of being poor, female, and/or members of a disenfranchised racial, ethnic, or religious group) at further disadvantage with respect to their health; health is essential to wellbeing and to overcoming other effects of social disadvantage. Equity is an ethical principle; it also is consonant with and closely related to human rights principles. The proposed definition of equity supports operationalisation of the right to the highest attainable standard of health as indicated by the health status of the most socially advantaged group. Assessing health equity requires comparing health and its social determinants between more and less advantaged social groups. These comparisons are essential to assess whether national and international policies are leading toward or away from greater social justice in health.
Keywords: equity
Related Article
J. Epidemiol. Community Health 2003 57: 233.
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
J Burrows Inequalities and healthcare reform in Chile: equity of what? J. Med. Ethics, September 1, 2008; 34(9): e13 - e13. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. L. Ferrer Pursuing Equity: Contact With Primary Care and Specialist Clinicians by Demographics, Insurance, and Health Status Ann. Fam. Med, November 1, 2007; 5(6): 492 - 502. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Wamala, J. Merlo, G. Bostrom, and C. Hogstedt Perceived discrimination, socioeconomic disadvantage and refraining from seeking medical treatment in Sweden J. Epidemiol. Community Health, May 1, 2007; 61(5): 409 - 415. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. S. Zaric and M. L. Brandeau A Little Planning Goes a Long Way: Multilevel Allocation of HIV Prevention Resources Med Decis Making, January 1, 2007; 27(1): 71 - 81. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. Regidor Social determinants of health: a veil that hides socioeconomic position and its relation with health. J. Epidemiol. Community Health, October 1, 2006; 60(10): 896 - 901. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. M. Griffith, E. Moy, T. M. Reischl, and E. Dayton National data for monitoring and evaluating racial and ethnic health inequities: where do we go from here? Health Educ Behav, August 1, 2006; 33(4): 470 - 487. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Starfield State of the Art in Research on Equity in Health Journal of Health Politics Policy and Law, February 1, 2006; 31(1): 11 - 32. [Abstract] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. Forman Ensuring Reasonable Health: Health Rights, the Judiciary, and South African HIV/AIDS Policy J. Law Med. Ethics, December 1, 2005; 33(4): 711 - 724. [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
Y. Asada A framework for measuring health inequity J. Epidemiol. Community Health, August 1, 2005; 59(8): 700 - 705. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. A. Baker, M. M. Metzler, and S. Galea Addressing Social Determinants of Health Inequities: Learning From Doing Am J Public Health, April 1, 2005; 95(4): 553 - 555. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M Mowafi and M Khawaja Poverty J. Epidemiol. Community Health, April 1, 2005; 59(4): 260 - 264. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
P. A. Braveman, S. A. Egerter, C. Cubbin, and K. S. Marchi An Approach to Studying Social Disparities in Health and Health Care Am J Public Health, December 1, 2004; 94(12): 2139 - 2148. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
N. E. Kass public Health Ethics From Foundations and Frameworks to Justice and Global public Health J. Law Med. Ethics, June 1, 2004; 32(2): 232 - 242. [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS | REGISTER |