13 How Do We Address Health Equity in a Globalising World Flashcards
Overview Summary
Welcome to ‘how to we address health equity in a globalising world?’ Until now, we have briefly discussed health equity in different sessions of this module. This session will provide a more detailed understanding of the role of health equity in addressing global health issues and the impact of globalisation.
Overview Aims
The aim of this session is for students to understand health equity, its basis and its importance in global health.
Overview Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you should be able to: Understand and explain what is meant by health equity and compare different approaches to health equity; Describe how processes of global change are impacting patterns of health equity; Assess the importance of data and monitoring to health equity; and Analyse the challenges faced by global and national health institutions in seeking to improve health equity.
Key terms Equity
Equity in health implies that ideally everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential and, more pragmatically, that no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential, if it can be avoided WHO (Whitehead & Dahlgren, 2006).
Key terms Globalisation
Process of increased internationalisation, interconnectedness and integration of means of production, financial systems, competition, corporations, technology and industries. As a consequence, individuals, capital, and innovations are increasingly mobile, markets interdependent and to a certain extent uniform.
Key terms Health inequality
Generic term used to designate differences, variations, and disparities in the health achievements of individuals and groups.
Key terms Health inequity
Social inequities in health, these are systematic differences in health status between different socioeconomic group. They are systematic, socially produced (and therefore modifiable) and unfair.
Key terms Social Determinants of Health
“Complex, integrated, and overlapping social structures and economic systems that include the social environment, physical environment, and health services; structural and societal factors that are responsible for most health inequities. Social determinants of health are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national, and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices” (WHO, 1991).
Key terms Social justice
Equitable distribution of social, economic and political resources, opportunities and responsibilities and their consequences.
Key terms Universal Health Coverage
“Ensuring that all people can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship” (WHO, 2010).
1 Background
Addressing inequities within and across countries has become one of the key challenges of our time. Processes of globalisation over the past twenty years have had a number of repercussions on wealth distribution and on population health among others, increasing inequities globally and across countries. It remains a key challenge to humanity that while huge advances have been made over the past 50 years not only in terms of economic wealth but extending our life expectancy, through advances in medicines and medical technology that have seen a much greater ability to prevent and treat disease, and prolong lives, progress has been uneven with many people lacking access to the basic commodities to stay healthy, such as clean water, basic medical care and antibiotics. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 - explicitly recognise the need to reduce inequalities within and between countries (Goal 10). SDG 3 – the health goal – recognises the importance to reach everyone and address inequity through its emphasis on universal coverage of services for example. - The first section of the session will lay out basic knowledge on health equity, going back to some important definitions.
1 Background
In particular, you will learn the difference between health inequalities, which simply refers to differences in health and health inequity which denotes those differences which are determined by factors other than our biology and genes, and are deemed unfair. The underlying approach of health equity therefore goes back to the theory of justice. The second section will look at some of the health equity issues in the context of globalisation and the SDGs. It will be no surprise to you that globalisation has an effect on health equity that can be both positive and negative. The next sections will then lay out the challenges, the initiatives taken to counter health inequity and finally will address the policy and research nexus. You are going to see why data on health status and outcomes, and service coverage, as well as and monitoring and evaluation are so important to addressing health inequities and ensuring universal health coverage and health for all. A lack of detailed data can be a stumbling block for addressing inequities in health. Finally, we will conclude this session by recapping the main take away messages on how to address health equity.
1.1 Definitions
First and foremost, this section will take as its basis WHO’s definition of health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” [Constitution of the World Health Organisation: 1946]. We will see that in order to measure health equity, more indicators than those measuring health overall itself are needed – in other words, general data on health outcomes alone do not necessarily mean better health equity, and in fact population level data can mask inequities on health. This means that while for example health status and life expectancy of the population in a country may be improving overall, it may be worsening for a sub-group of the population at the same time.
1.1 Definitions
Secondly, it is essential to understand that the concept of equity is inherently normative, meaning it is not neutral. Equality on the contrary, or rather inequality, simply refers to difference without the value judgement.
1.1 Definitions
Even though health inequalities and health inequities are sometimes used interchangeably, as they do both denote difference it is important to understand the difference between these terms. Health inequalities simply describe the disparities in health, these can be due to biological factors, such as our genes, or the term can be used to describe differences between more or less socially advantaged groups. Social inequalities in health on the other hand are the differences in health outcomes between social groups as defined by variables such as class, race, gender and geographic location amongst others. The health status of one group or population will be different to that of another group or population. We could also say that health inequalities are discrepancies in health that appear to be more prevalent in one group than another. The concept of health equity however refers to a fair distribution of resources and processes that leads to the absence of systematic disparities in health between social groups who experience different levels of social advantages.
1.1 Definitions
As a consequence, the concept of health inequities refers to differences in health that are unnecessary, avoidable, unfair and unjust (Whitehead, 1992 and 2007). It can be argued that not all differences in health between two or more groups are unfair.
1.1 Definitions
Also, it is important to note that equity in health care differs from equity in health status; indeed, empirical evidence shows that access to health care is not a sufficient measure to ensure equality in health outcomes. For progress to be made on both fronts, the general consensus is that resources should be allocated to those with the greatest needs and the least resources. But we will come back to this later when we will be looking at measures to address health inequities.
1.2 The Concept of Justice - Key to understanding health equity
The concept of justice that underlies thinking on health equity is to a large extent based on John Rawls‘s analysis. In his seminal work entitled the “Theory of Justice” Rawls sets out his argument for understanding justice as a principle of fairness. The interest in Rawls‘s theory of justice when addressing health inequities is anchored in the fact that he claimed social and/or economic inequalities had to be tackled for everyone to benefit from a fair equality of opportunities. If good health is considered a necessity for evolving socially, working and leisure, equal access to health care is essential and needs to be guaranteed by the state – the theory of justice is at the heart of the ideal of the welfare states. As a consequence, the principle of equality of opportunities is to a great extent the basis for distributive health care systems.
1.2 The Concept of Justice - Key to understanding health equity
The concept of justice mirrors the core of our debate, namely the capability and the equality of opportunity in achieving good health, as opposed to health achievements per se. Health achievements are therefore a good guide for indirectly measuring equality of capabilities (the opportunity to be healthy).
1.2 The Concept of Justice - Key to understanding health equity
The economist and philosopher Amartya Sen has argued that health equity cannot be gauged by the absence of inequities in health alone, but that it is intrinsically connected to justice in general, whether via income distribution, or freedom.
1.2 The Concept of Justice - Key to understanding health equity
What the capability approach means is that to have equal opportunities for a healthy life and well-being, requires different things, depending on an individuals’ starting point. You need to take account of the social context for example and individual needs. Where a person has a disability, access to the health system may require other things (wheelchair accessible buildings for example) than for an able- bodied person. A pregnant woman from an indigenous community who may not speak the predominant language in the public health system will require a different approach to enable safe motherhood than other health care users in the same country. Equally, we now have very strong evidence that shows the extent to which our health, or our capability to be health healthy, depends on and is shaped by our housing and shelter, by education, access to sanitation, by work and employment and by the wider distribution of power in society. Inequities in housing, education, access to sanitation or power will be essential obstacles to achieving health equity. Taken together these factors are often termed, the social determinants of health. Conversely, health equity will be accompanied by overall better socio-economic conditions for individuals and the community. While low incomes or poor education have a significant negative impact on individuals’ basic functioning, the deprivation of health in particular, is intrinsically important to their capability to enjoy life. In sum, health is understood as an equity issue because health is considered a common good and a basic human right. Health is a special good because it is a prerequisite to individuals’ and communities’ abilities to function. Therefore, health is subject to ‘specific egalitarianism’: it should be available regardless of an individual’s propensity and abilities to access health care.
1.2 The Concept of Justice - Key to understanding health equity
Differences in health status between different sections of the population equally often show a wider injustice in society, such as for example, a lack of voice, discrimination against a population group, lack of education or income inequalities.
1.3 Social determinants of health
A key insight in understanding health equity or in relation to the field of health equity as a field of scholarship and policy action is that many differences observed in health are socially determined. As set out above – by things such as our housing, education, income, employment, gender and so forth – and that thus
1.3 Social determinants of health
The breakthrough in this respect is the work by Professor Sir Michael Marmot who through his Whitehall studies in 1980s and 90s provided detailed insight, evidence and understanding into how socio-economic determinants shaped the differences in health seen in British civil servants. These influential studies triggered great interest among British and European policy makers and led to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health led by Marmot himself that provided evidence on why social differences should be of interest to policy makers addressing health equity issues.