The new five-year agenda of WHO in Africa, The Africa Health Transformation Programme, 2015–2020: a vision for universal health coverage, is the strategic framework that will guide WHO’s contribution to the emerging sustainable development platform in Africa. It articulates a vision for health a...nd development that aims to address the unacceptable inequalities and inequities that have kept our region lagging far behind others in terms of health indices and enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of life.
more
This provisional Facilitator's Kit provides a complete framework for a 3-day training on Community Preparedness for Reproductive Health and Gender. The goal is to build community capacity to prepare and respond to risks and inequities faced by women and girls during emergencies.
Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2014;35(3):179–85
The World Health Organization (WHO) and United NationsHuman Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) joint globalreport, Hidden cities: unmasking and overcoming healthinequities in urban settings, exposes the extent to whichcertain city dwellers suffer disproportionately from a wide range of diseases and ...health problems. This report provides information and tools to helpgovernments and local leaders reduce health inequities in their cities. The objective of the report is not tocompare rural and urban health inequities. Urban healthinequities need to be addressed specifically for they aredifferent in their magnitude and in their distribution.
more
Levels and Inequities
DHS Further Analysis Reports No. 110
This study shows large variations in maternal health indicators across high-priority counties in Kenya. Nairobi exceeds the national average on all maternal health indicators in this study, while other highpriority counties consist...ently are disadvantaged compared with Kenya as a whole in most maternal health indicators. Kisumu exceeds the national average in use of antenatal care, delivery in a health facility, and postnatal care, but not other indicators. Nakuru has fewer women with fertility risk and fewer women who report that the distance they must travel to reach a health facility is a problem.
This study identifies a number of inequities in maternal health indicators across socio-demographic characteristics in the high-priority counties—most in the distribution of delivery care and least in antenatal care. Inequities are also observed in fertility risk and postnatal care.
more
In Israel, as in other countries, the COVID-19 outbreak highlights existing structural inequities,which compromise the health of some migrant groups. The Israeli case also demonstrate show strong NGOs successfully advocate for the protection of migrants‘health amidst the crisis, madepossible bya c...ertain level ofcooperation withthe Israeli Ministry of Health.Hence,measures for COVID-19preparedness in Israel‘s marginalized migrant communities mostly result from pressure from civil society, against thebackdrop of a generally exclusionary approach toward migrants.4Over time, the Israeli Ministry of Health thus shifted from acknowledging the need to include migrants in preparedness measures toward the realization that particular needs and circumstances amongmigrant communities in some instances require special responses. Givena legacy of neglect and exclusion, this creates challenges for both the authorities and the migrant communities.
more
Under the theme Equity at the Heart of Health, this Plan seeks to catalyze efforts in Member States to reduce inequities in health within and between countries and territories in order to improve health outcomes. The Plan identifies specific actions to tackle health inequality, including those recom...mended by the Commission on Equity and Health Inequalities in the Americas, with guidance from the High-level Commission for Universal Health. Four cross-cutting themes are central to this Plan’s approach to addressing the determinants of health: equity, gender, ethnicity, and human rights
more
The report “Build back fairer: achieving health equity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region” provides ground breaking insights into the state of health inequities in the Region and urges countries to take action to address the social determinants of health to reverse the worsening trend of inequi...ty – aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing conflict, mass movements of people, environmental challenges, gender inequities and unemployment.
more
Accessed 15 July 2021
Your source for information about community health workers around the globe.
Search Resources Learn More
CHW Central believes that community health workers are key to achieving universal health coverage and reducing global health inequities. As the preeminent glob...al resource on CHWs and CHW programs, CHW Central increases access to online information to improve the quality of CHW programs and services. We advocate for CHWs to be appropriately integrated into the global health workforce and represented and connected through strong networks and associations.
more
The Social Determinants of Health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live and age. They have a large influence on our health. It also determines health inequities, which is the unfair and avoidable health difference between different groups of people In this video we take a look at t...he social determinants of health..what they are, how it impacts health and a useful framework to understand it.
more
Climate change is resulting in poorer health outcomes, increasing mortality and is a driver of health inequities. However, health is well placed to be a significant part of the solution; the positive health impacts from stronger climate change action can motivate stronger global ambition; health sys...tems which are resilient to climate change can help protect their populations from the negative impacts (in the short and longer terms); and sustainable low carbon health systems can make a substantial contribution to reducing national and global emissions.
This fact sheet on climate change and health is part of the Climate Fast Facts series of the United Nations Climate Action team.
more
One of the many gender inequities in the health and care workforce that COVID-19 has exposed is around the fit and design of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The rapid onset and scale of COVID-19 led to shortages of PPE in most countries, causing preventable infection and mortality among healthc...are workers and others on the front lines. Even though most health workers are women, manufacturing specifications for medical PPE are usually drawn up based on the male body and there have been many reports of PPE not designed for women's bodies.
more
One of the many gender inequities in the health and care workforce that COVID-19 has exposed is around the fit and design of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The rapid onset and scale of COVID-19 led to shortages of PPE in most countries, causing preventable infection and mortality among healthc...are workers and others on the front lines. Even though most health workers are women, manufacturing specifications for medical PPE are usually drawn up based on the male body and there have been many reports of PPE not designed for women's bodies. WGH undertook a global research project to document the challenges women health workers have faced.
more
One of the many gender inequities in the health and care workforce that COVID-19 has exposed is around the fit and design of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). The rapid onset and scale of COVID-19 led to shortages of PPE in most countries, causing preventable infection and mortality among healthc...are workers and others on the front lines. Even though most health workers are women, manufacturing specifications for medical PPE are usually drawn up based on the male body and there have been many reports of PPE not designed for women's bodies.
more
Within an Australian context, the medium to long-term health impacts of climate change are likely to be wide, varied and amplify many existing disorders and health inequities. How the health system responds to these challenges will be best considered in the context of existing health facilities and ...services. This paper provides a snapshot of the understanding that Australian health planners have of the potential health impacts of climate change.
more
The health and socioeconomic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the countries of Latin America hard and laid bare the profound inequities about which numerous international, regional and national reports have sounded warnings in recent decades. In this context, the historical politica...l and economic exclusion and marginalization of the more than 800 indigenous peoples in the region has been accentuated as a result of insufficient State responses to the crisis, which have not adequately considered the collective rights of these peoples and have had little cultural relevance.
This document provides an overview of the situation of indigenous peoples in the region in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. It analyses both the State’s and indigenous peoples’ own responses to the crisis, as well as offering a set of recommendations to rectify the neglect of these peoples in the management of the pandemic, centring on their collective rights.
more
As countries aim to progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and achieving universal health coverage, health inequities driven by racial discrimination and intersecting factors remain pervasive. Inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma ...and other ethnic minorities are of concern globally; they are unjust, preventable and remediable.
Health systems themselves are important determinants of health and health equity. They can perpetuate health inequities by reflecting structural racism and discriminatory practices of wider society. For instance, systemic racism, implicit bias, misinformed clinical practice, or discrimination by health professionals contributes to health inequities. However, health systems can also be a leading force for tackling the inequities faced by populations experiencing racial discrimination.
Primary health care (PHC) is the essential strategy for reorientating health systems and societies to become healthier, equitable, effective and sustainable. In 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) renewed the emphasis on PHC with their strategy,
WHO outlines 14 strategic and operational levers for policy-makers to strengthen PHC. Within each lever, there are multiple potential entry points for targeted actions to address racial discrimination, foster intercultural care, and reduce health inequities experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent, Roma and other ethnic minorities.
more
To support the achievement of health equity in the Region, the regional inter-agency movement Every Woman Every Child Latin America and the Caribbean (EWEC-LAC) advocates for and supports the use of equity and evidence-based policies, strategies and interventions to accelerate equitable progress in ...the health of women, children and adolescents. Although progress has been made, great inequities persist. Women from the LAC region’s poorest countries are almost four times more likely to die due to complications during childbirth than those living in the wealthiest countries. Through the years, several tools, instruments and methods (TIMs) have been developed by global, regional and country partners that can be used to conduct systematic equity-based analyses and/or re-designs of health systems, programs, strategies and interventions. The main purpose of this document is to present an overview of existing TIMs that can be used by policymakers, program managers, development partners, nongovernmental organizations, academia and civil society partners to strengthen systematic identification, analysis and responding to social inequities in the health of women, children and adolescents in LAC. The TIMs included were identified through a systematic search process
more
Health inequities are unjust and avoidable systematic differences in the health status and access to health resources of
different population groups. Health inequity manifests itself at all levels as differences across countries, within countries, between communities, and within population groups. ...Health inequities arise from social determinants of health, or social and
environmental conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age; they do not occur randomly or by chance, and are largely beyond an individual’s control.
more
Identifying and addressing immunization inequities is core to the success of immunization programmes and will require a collective effort from all parts of the immunization programme, working in partnership with governments and other areas of health. This document provides practical guidance for tho...se working in immunization programmes to help advocate for immunization equity, embed equity as am aim in delivery of immunization programmes, and understand existing inequities by considering: who is left behind; why they were left behind; how we can intervene to resolve and avoid this; and whether our intervention has made a difference.
more