One wing of nation's health: reducing health inequalities

Reducing Inequalities in Health

Reducing health inequalities--time for optimism.

101 Health inequalities have been found in all developed countries and for almost all diseases. Marked differences in health status occur between population groups as defined by gender, geography, ethnicity and socio-economic status. For example, affluent, privileged people have better health and lower mortality than poor, disadvantaged people (RACP, 1999). The UK has been tracking the health g...

Reducing Health Inequalities in Developing Countries

Reducing global inequalities in child health.

Since 1950, global poverty and child mortality rates have declined more rapidly than during any other period in history. Progress has been uneven, however, so that inequalities have widened; since the 1970s, an increasing number of countries have experienced periods of prolonged economic decline. Eighty countries now have per capita incomes lower than in 1990. Partly in consequence, indicators ...

Measuring progress towards reducing health inequalities.

During the past 50 years there has been a gradual improvement in life expectancy: the global average now exceeds 65 years, which is similar to the European average in 1950. The rate of improvement has, however, decelerated in recent decades, and there is a lack of mortality decline in the least developed countries. Moser et al. (pp. 202–209) show that inequality in life expectancy between count...