What is Health Equity: And How Does a Life-Course Approach Take Us Further Toward It?
What is Health Equity: And How Does a Life-Course Approach Take Us Further Toward It?
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DOI：
10.1007/s10995-013-1226-9
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发表时间：
2014-02-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Braveman, Paula
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Braveman, Paula
尽管在过去的二十年里，美国的卫生专业人员越来越熟悉“健康公平”和“健康差距”这两个术语，但它们很少被定义。联邦机构经常以涵盖任何群体之间所有健康差异的方式来定义“健康差距”。保健差距和保健公平概念不明确，会使社会正义不再作为政策议程的一项明确考虑，从而对资源的分配产生严重后果。本文旨在明确这些概念的含义，并讨论生命过程的观点可以有助于努力实现健康公平和消除健康差距。公平意味着正义。健康公平是一项原则或目标，旨在通过特别努力改善经济或社会弱势群体的健康状况，消除经济或社会状况较差的人群与经济或社会状况较好的人群之间的健康差距，例如不同的种族/民族或社会经济群体或由残疾状况，性取向或性别认同定义的群体。健康差距是我们衡量健康公平进展的指标。这些定义的伦理和人权原则的基础进行了讨论，沿着的相关性，走向更大的健康公平的生命过程的角度来看。
Although the terms "health equity" and "health disparities" have become increasingly familiar to health professionals in the United States over the past two decades, they are rarely defined. Federal agencies have often defined "health disparities" in ways that encompass all health differences between any groups. Lack of clarity about the concepts of health disparities and health equity can have serious consequences for how resources are allocated, by removing social justice as an explicit consideration from policy agendas. This paper aims to make explicit what these concepts mean and to discuss what a life-course perspective can contribute to efforts to achieve health equity and eliminate health disparities. Equity means justice. Health equity is the principle or goal that motivates efforts to eliminate disparities in health between groups of people who are economically or socially worse-off and their better-off counterparts-such as different racial/ethnic or socioeconomic groups or groups defined by disability status, sexual orientation, or gender identity-by making special efforts to improve the health of those who are economically or socially disadvantaged. Health disparities are the metric by which we measure progress toward health equity. The basis for these definitions in ethical and human rights principles is discussed, along with the relevance of a life-course perspective for moving toward greater health equity.