Definition Gender Health Disparities

Cdc s office of minority health and health equity omhhe aims to accelerate cdc s health impact in the u s population and to eliminate health disparities for vulnerable populations as defined by race ethnicity socio economic status geography gender age disability status risk status related to sex and gender and among other populations identified to be at risk for health disparities.

Definition gender health disparities. Different groups and communities can have markedly different levels of health. English bulgarian spanish czech danish german estonian greek irish italian latvian lithuanian hungarian maltese dutch polish portuguese romanian slovak slovenian finnish swedish. Alleviating stark disparities in health coverage chronic health conditions mental health and mortality across racial and ethnic groups in the united states will require deliberate and long term. Gender disparities view definition in.

The gender pay and pension gaps 16 3 and 38 respectively put older women in particular at risk of poverty and social exclusion which creates barriers to health services. Gender equity in health means fairness in addressing the different health needs of people according to their gender. This essay provides a brief review of the voluminous literature on health disparities with a focus on several major threads including populations of interest incidence and prevalence of morbidity and mortality determinants of health health literacy and health information seeking. Some populations can have higher rates of cancer for example while others might be more likely to be obese or use tobacco.

Some of the examples provided by the world health organization of how cultural norms can result in gender disparities in health include a woman s inability to travel alone which can prevent them from receiving the necessary health care that they need. Both gender differences and gender inequalities can lead to disparities in health outcomes and access to health care. A concept of fairness recognises that there are differences between the sexes and that resources must be allocated differentially to address unfair disparities. These gaps or inequities can connect to race ethnicity gender sexuality socioeconomic status geographic location and other categories health disparities are not biological but instead emerge from social economic political and other external causes.

The term health disparities refers to the differences in health and health care access among members of different populations. These differences in health or medical conditions are called health disparities and they can have a profound impact on the public health of a community. Inequitable health outcomes based on gender are both avoidable and unacceptable.