The focus on public policy and health equity is discussed in reference to the current global health policy discussion on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). This initiative has strong commitment from the leadership of the international organizations involved, but a lack of policy clarity outside of the health financing component may limit the initiative’s impact on health inequity. In order to add...

INTRODUCTION OR BACKGROUND Debate over relationships between economic growth, wealth, health and health inequity is long-standing and ongoing. The main message of this paper is that economic growth, while necessary, is not a sufficient condition in itself for achieving equitable health. SOURCES OF DATA This review surveys and draws on research into principal factors commonly linked with impro...

BACKGROUND Despite remarkable progress in maternal and child health, inequity persists in maternal care utilization in Bangladesh. Government of Bangladesh (GOB) with technical assistance from United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization (WHO) started implementing Maternal and Neonatal Health Initiatives in selected districts of Ban...

This paper presents the results of an eight-country comparative study of equity in the delivery of health care. Equity is taken to mean that persons in equal need of health care should be treated the same, irrespective of their income. Two methods are used to investigate inequity: an index of inequity based on standardized expenditure shares, and a regression-based test. The results suggest tha...

Background Recent healthcare literature points to the need to investigate how to achieve inequity reduction. We studied the implementation of an organizational-wide inequity reduction intervention in Israel’s largest healthcare provider and insurer, Clalit Health Services during 20092012. The intervention focused on reducing health and healthcare gaps between 55 target clinics (major clinics se...

The World Health Organization defines social determinants of health as "complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems" that are responsible for most health inequities. Similar to the individual-level risk factors such as behavioral and biological risk factors that influence disease, we consider social determinants of health such as the distribution of income, wealt...