Equity Definition Health And Social Care
Having a common understanding of equity is an essential foundation for coordinated and collaborative effort to achieve equity in health and wellness.
Equity definition health and social care. 1 6 however because social justice and fairness can be interpreted differently by different people in different settings a definition is needed that can be operationalised based on measurable criteria. Health equity could exist but often does not. An equitably distributed service is defined as one in which only variables which measure respondent s need for the service provide a significant explanation of whether the respondent receives the. The main data source is the 1980 ghs which has been linked to local authority data.
Health equity is achieved by removing unfair and avoidable barriers that compromise health and wellbeing. This paper studies equity in the distribution of primary health care and domiciliary care for elderly people. The definition can be used in all work and engagements within the health and disability system including government agencies involved in the broader social and economic determinants of health. Equity is the absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people whether those groups are defined socially economically demographically or geographically.
Health equity means ensuring that everyone has the chance to be as healthy as possible. It is an ethical concept grounded in principles of distributive justice. Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health specifically from wealth power and prestige. Equity means social justice or fairness.
For health promotion this means that the resources are not distributed evenly or equally. 39 42 equity in health can be and has widely been defined as the absence of socially unjust or unfair health disparities. However factors outside of a person s control such as discrimination and lack of resources can prevent. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequities and face worse health outcomes than those who are able to access certain resources.
The practice of health equity is focused on supporting fair access fair chances and fair resource distribution to alleviate any disadvantage experienced by at risk or vulnerable groups. In other words equity in health promotion is about enabling everyone to achieve health not just specific groups. Horizontal equity refers to equity between people with the same health care needs whilst vertical equity refers to those with unequal needs who should receive different or unequal health care.