Starting in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, reports appeared in the literature describing the poor health status and poor health outcomes experienced by minority populations, especially blacks, in the United States. Additionally, attention was brought to the limited access to health services for minority populations. These reports prompted Congress to request the Institute of Medicine ...

The persistence of inequities in health, with poor and other disadvantaged population groups bearing a disproportionately high burden of ill-health, remains a public health, ethical and human rights challenge.1 The WHO Constitution enshrines equity thus: “The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race,...

Despite India’s impressive economic performance after the introduction of economic reforms in the 1990s, progress in advancing the health status of Indians has been slow and uneven. Large inequities in health and access to health services continue to persist and have even widened across states, between rural and urban areas, and within communities. Three forms of inequities have dominated India...

The disproportionate disease and mortality burden of African Americans are among the most challenging public health issues in the United States today. Nationally, African Americans have an age-adjusted all-cause mortality rate that is 1.5 times that of non-Hispanic whites. African Americans are 30% more likely to die from cardiovascular disease, 40% more likely to be obese, and 60% more likely ...

BACKGROUND In the Peruvian Amazon, historical events of colonization and political marginalization intersect with identities of ethnicity, class and geography in the construction of gender and health inequities. Gender-based inequalities can manifest in poor health outcomes via discriminatory practices, healthcare system imbalances, inequities in health research, and differential exposures and ...

BACKGROUND Equity in health is a pressing concern and reaching disadvantaged populations is necessary to close the inequity gap. To date, the discourse has predominately focussed on reaching the poor. At the same time and in addition to wealth, other structural determinants that influence health outcomes exist, one of which is ethnicity. Inequities based on group belongings are recognised as 'h...

The study was carried out to assess the magnitude of, and change in, inequities in self-reported adult illness and use of healthcare and to consider the policy implications of the findings. Datasets from three household surveys carried out in 1993, 1995, and 1998 were used. Inequities were measured using illness and healthcare-use concentration indices. Self-reported adult illness was greater a...