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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Child health: equity in the non-industrialized countries.

Significant improvements have been made in infant and child survival globally in recent decades. In spite of a substantial literature describing achievements to date and strategies for continuation of this progress, there has been relatively little attention directed toward the issue of equity in global child health outcomes. This paper briefly reviews global improvements in child health outcomes over the past four decades, but then provides evidence that there has been substantial variation in these improvements, both between nations and within non-industrialized nations. The identifying characteristics of high risk populations are summarized. The specific diseases and disease complexes associated with mortality in populations with different mortality rates are presented as background to a discussion of the anticipated increase in 'effort' (both personnel and material resources) that will be necessary for sustained improvement in child survival. In this context, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is likely to further increase disparities in health outcomes. Finally, prospects for increased equity in the future are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Why health equity?

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Health Policy↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Globalization, international trade, and health equity].

Globalization and international trade are having an increasingly evident impact on the day-to-day duties of the health sector, and the phenomenon has aroused a great deal of interest among governments, nongovernmental organizations, international organizations, and the mass media. Up to this point the heated and polemical debate on the subject has seriously hindered objective discourse on the health implications of globalization and international trade. This piece examines the possible impact of the two processes on health in the Region of the Americas, in order to foster policies for equity that are adopted within the framework of public health in the Americas. The piece considers the relationships among globalization, trade, and health in general and then focuses on the special case of trade in health goods and services. The piece looks at the possible impact on health equity of the agreements for integration and free trade that are being negotiated in the Americas. The piece concludes with a summary of the activities that the Pan American Health Organization has been carrying out in this area.

Canada↗
PubMed2001

Vaccines--a wonderful tool for equity in health.

Equity is a word representing one of the most important concerns for planners, politicians and the academia. It comes as an answer to the permanent rediscovery of inequity in the benefits of progress among the peoples of the world. Inequity in the distribution of risks for health and disease is a finding that comes on and on again in real life and in the literature. Inequity in disease burden is clearly related to poverty and the eradication of poverty is the mission for every government and international assistance organisations. Development is also not only a precondition for justice but for peace and stability. Health is seen more and more as preceding development and not only as a consequence of wealth. Therefore many things can and must be done in health to achieve development and of course, equity. This concept has been crucial in the new orientation of WHO and our agency is working hard on its promotion at every level. Vaccines are with us as a simple and effective tool for two centuries. The research and development of new vaccines and all in the underlining knowledge has been much faster than its utilization and there is a huge gap to fill in accessibility and actual coverage. World Health Organization (WHO) has been involved all its life in the promotion of disease control and eradication through the use of immunisation techniques. Presently we are part of GAVI and our Vaccines and Biologicals Department has undergone an important modernisation in order to achieve better performance in pursuing three main objectives: Innovation, Immunisation Systems improvement and Accelerated Disease Control. Therefore in order to walk at a faster pace in the better utilisation of vaccines as a tool for equity, we must join forces and participate actively in all the initiatives that are underway.

Humans↗
PubMed2006

Poverty status and health equity: evidence from rural Bangladesh.

Many studies have examined the health inequities between different social groups, often measured by individual independent variables, such as education, gender, ethnicity, geography, rich, poor, etc. Although inequities are increasingly widening, a few studies have looked at the health inequity between different poverty groups within the poor. The present study, using equity terms, examined the use of health services in two rural areas of Bangladesh. Using a multistage sampling method, a total of 80 villages were selected from the Bogra and Dinajpur sadar thanas (subdistricts) for the study. A total of 4003 households in these villages were visited for data collection on mortality and fertility, while data related to use of health services was collected from a subsample of 1032 households. A poverty index, constructed using three variables (household landholding, education level of head of household, and self-rated categorization of household's annual food security), categorized the households into three groups: extreme poor, moderate poor and non-poor. Overall, the data revealed considerable inequities in many study indicators between the poor and the non-poor. However, inequities of varying degrees were also found between the extreme poor and the moderate poor. Lower levels of inequities were found between the poor and the non-poor in the use of health services, which were easily accessible and free of charge (immunization, vitamin A capsule, etc.). On the whole, the extreme poor were less likely to use health services than the moderate poor and the non-poor, suggesting the need for a more appropriate programme to address their pressing health needs.

Bangladesh↗
PubMed2002

Putting equity in health back onto the social policy agenda: experience from South Africa.

Over the past decade, international health policy debates have been dominated by efficiency considerations. There has been a recent resurgence of interest in health equity, including consideration of the notions of vertical equity and procedural justice. This paper explores the possible application of these notions within the context of South Africa, a country in which inequities in income and social service distribution between 'racial' groups were systematically promoted and entrenched during four decades of minority rule, guided by apartheid and related policies. With the transition to a democratic government in 1994, equity gained prominence on the South African social policy agenda. Health equity has been awarded a particularly high priority, not least of all because the health sector is seen as vehicle for achieving rapid equity gains. In addition, many of the other equity-promoting social sector policies (such as improved access to housing and water and sanitation services) have been motivated on the basis of their potential health equity gains. The South African experience since 1994 provides useful insights into factors which may facilitate or constrain health equity progress. In particular, the constitutional entitlement to health and civil society action to maintain health equity's place on the social policy agenda are seen as important facilitating factors. Certain health sector programmes have also been developed which are intended preferentially to benefit those who have been historically dis-advantaged, and which thus support vertical equity goals. However, there have been no efforts to promote cross-subsidisation between the private and public health sectors, and initial efforts to promote coherency in social policies (through the Reconstruction and Development Programme) appear not to have been sustained. In addition, macro-economic policies (particularly the highly ambitious budget deficit reduction targets of the government) are likely to undermine some of the equity-promoting social policy initiatives. Most importantly, the potential inter-relationship of vertical equity and procedural justice goals has not been adequately recognised. As a result, and despite policy rhetoric, this paper concludes that health equity goals are critically dependent on the central involvement of the dis-advantaged in decision-making about who should receive priority, what services should be delivered and how equity-promoting initiatives should be implemented.

Civil Rights↗
PubMed2005

Strengthening health information systems to address health equity challenges.

Special studies and isolated initiatives over the past several decades in low-, middle- and high-income countries have consistently shown inequalities in health among socioeconomic groups and by gender, race or ethnicity, geographical area and other measures associated with social advantage. Significant health inequalities linked to social (dis)advantage rather than to inherent biological differences are generally considered unfair or inequitable. Such health inequities are the main object of health development efforts, including global targets such as the Millennium Development Goals, which require monitoring to evaluate progress. However, most national health information systems (HIS) lack key information needed to assess and address health inequities, namely, reliable, longitudinal and representative data linking measures of health with measures of social status or advantage at the individual or small-area level. Without empirical documentation and monitoring of such inequities, as well as country-level capacity to use this information for effective planning and monitoring of progress in response to interventions, movement towards equity is unlikely to occur. This paper reviews core information requirements and potential databases and proposes short-term and longer term strategies for strengthening the capabilities of HIS for the analysis of health equity and discusses HIS-related entry points for supporting a culture of equity-oriented decision-making and policy development.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed2006

The work the document does: research, policy, and equity in health.

At the center of the politics of health equity, in many countries and circumstances, stands a signal report of research. This article is concerned with what might be described as the architecture of such documents, including how they are produced and organized and the relationships they demonstrate with others that parallel, precede, and succeed them. The article examines how scientific and political authority is established and comments on the evidence of cross-national learning that these documents reveal. It discusses differences in how the problem of health equity is constructed in different countries and how research findings are converted into policy recommendations. It begins to trace a process of implementation by noting how these documents are referred to and written about. The argument is that the politics of health equity are expressed or realized in the documents and reports, which are its principal vehicle. This is not to claim that there is no world beyond the text or that the world somehow is a text, but that to fully understand that world we must understand the text and the work it does.

Documentation↗
PubMed2003

A history of child health equity legislation in the United States.

The mission of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) is comprehensive in scope and establishes the capacity, structure, and function for the MCHB to continually improve the health and well-being of pregnant women and children. The MCHB works in partnership with states and has broad authority to improve access to care and ensure the provision of quality preventive and primary care services. Specific provisions of legislation establish the framework for accomplishing this mission. With the increasing recognition of the social, economic, and environmental determinants of child health and the inequities that exist in access and quality of care for children, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) has set the following 3 goals for year 2003: 1) To eliminate disparities in health status outcomes through the removal of economic, social, and cultural barriers to receiving comprehensive, timely, and appropriate health care; 2) To ensure the highest quality of care through the development of practice guidance and data monitoring and evaluation tools; the use of evidence-based research; and the availability of a well-trained, culturally diverse workforce; and 3) To facilitate access to care through the development and improvement of the maternal and child health infrastructure and systems of care to enhance the provision of necessary, coordinated, quality health care. Priority MCHB strategies to accomplish these goals include improving and expanding 1) the cultural competence of providers (in particular to decrease sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS] among minorities), 2) emergency medical services for children, 3) health and safety in child care, 4) quality of primary pediatric care, and 5) the providing of every child with a medical home.

Child↗
PubMed1990

Health, equity, and reproductive risks in the workplace.

Potential exposure to occupational reproductive hazards raises complex questions regarding health and gender discrimination in the workplace. On the one hand, growing scientific evidence suggests that workplace exposures to either sex can cause a wide range of disorders ranging from infertility to adverse pregnancy outcomes. On the other hand, policies alleging to protect workers from reproductive risks have often reinforced gender inequalities in the workplace. This article sheds new light on this continuing debate through an examination of the policy insights suggested by a recent study of reproductive hazard policies in Massachusetts. In what ways do policies evidenced in this study reflect or differ from historical patterns of protectionism? The article presents a political-legal review of reproductive hazard policies in the workplace, then examines the policy implications of the Massachusetts study, and finally presents the prescriptions for change that are implied by both the historical and contemporary evidence.

Female↗
PubMed2002

Geographic patterns of deprivation in South Africa: informing health equity analyses and public resource allocation strategies.

There is a growing interest in the use of small area analyses in investigating the relationship between socioeconomic status and health, and in informing resource allocation decision-making. However, few such studies have been undertaken in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper reports on such a study undertaken in South Africa. It both looked at the feasibility of developing a broad-based area deprivation index in a data scarce context and considered the implications of such an index for geographic resource allocations. Despite certain data problems, it was possible to construct and compare three different indices: a general index of deprivation (GID), compiled from census data using principal component analysis; a policy-perspective index of deprivation (PID), based on groups identified as priorities within policy documents; and a single indicator of deprivation (SID), selected for relevance and feasibility of use. The findings demonstrate clearly that in South Africa deprivation is multi-faceted, is concentrated in specific areas within the country and is correlated with ill-health. However, the formula currently used by the National Treasury to allocate resources between geographic areas, biases these allocations towards less deprived areas within the country. The inclusion of the GID within this formula would dramatically alter allocations towards those areas suffering from human development deficits. The area in which analysis was undertaken was not, however, sufficiently small to identify pockets of deprivation within the less deprived metropolitan areas. These findings suggest that it is feasible to conduct small area analyses in LMICs but that specific attention needs to be given to the size of the geographic unit used in analysis. In addition, they highlight the importance of considering deprivation in resource allocation mechanisms if vertical equity goals are to be promoted through resource allocation, particularly within decentralized health systems.

Censuses↗