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EQUITY |
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Bottom Line |
Equity is a subjective judgment of unfairness. |
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Significance |
Equity and its opposite inequity are still confused by many with equality and inequality. Inequality is an objective defined judgment, for example health inequalities such as variation in mortality rates or health service inequalities, such as variation in the provision of services to different populations. There may be equality in the provision of health services, which is iniquitous, if one population has greater need than the others. Similarly there may be unequal distribution of resources in the higher amount of money per head, allocated to a population with high levels of deprivation and need, because it has been decided to do this in the interests of equity. |
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Examples of how the term is used; Extract from the Better Value Healthcare 21st Century Glossary |
If systematic differences in health for different groups of people are avoidable by reasonable action, their existence is, quite simply, unfair. We call this imbalance health inequity. “…the reduction of health inequities between and within countries is an ethical imperative.” The Commission on Social Determinants of Health calls for closing the health gap in a generation: this is an aspiration not a prediction. Source: Marmot, M., Friel, S., Bell, R., Houweling, T.A.J., Taylor, S. On behalf of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. (2008) Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Lancet, 372: 16. |
