- published: 02 Dec 2014
- views: 16706
Health equity (related, slightly more neutral terms include healthcare inequality and healthcare disparities) refers to the study of differences in the quality of health and health care across different populations. This may include differences in the "presence of disease, health outcomes, or access to health care" across racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and socioeconomic groups. The term "disparities" generally refers to differences of which the writer disapproves; thus, for instance, some definitions of "disparities" do not include differences due to differing access (e.g., due to socioeconomic class).
Differences between populations in the presence of disease and health outcomes are well-documented in many areas. In the United States, disparities are well documented in minority populations such as African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinos, with these groups having higher incidence of chronic diseases, higher mortality, and poorer overall health outcomes. For example, the cancer incidence rate among African Americans is 10% higher than among whites, and adult African Americans and Latinos have approximately twice the risk as whites of developing diabetes. Similarly, differences in the overall level of health in individuals also exist between differing social classes, with lower-status socioeconomic groups generally having poorer health and higher rates of chronic illness including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension; whether these are considered disparities to be eliminated depends on the author.
What is Health Equity?
A Recipe for Health Equity in the 21st Century: Renaisa Anthony at TEDxOmaha
Health Disparities to Health Equity: Dr. Paula Braveman
How Effective Healthcare Communication Contributes to Health Equity
The Health Equity Institute
The Center for Health Equity and Social Justice: Shifting the Public Health Paradigm
All my relations -- a traditional Lakota approach to health equity | Dr. Donald Warne | TEDxFargo
Health Equity and the Social Determinants of Health: Adewale Troutman, MD
Health Equity Award Winner
Global Health Equity
Health, Equity, and Education for All
NYC, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene- Center for Health Equity
University of Global Health Equity - MGHD Presentation
Health Equity Summit 2015