Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Nicole Bergen, Veronica Magar
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Published online: September 2015
Abstract / Resumen:
The Millennium Development Goals focused on poverty and development and reducing inequalities between countries.1 Progress was monitored through national averages without adequate attention to within-country inequality. The post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDG) stress “leaving no one behind” – with goal 10 specifically calling for the reduction of inequality, within and among countries.
Monitoring of inequalities within countries focuses on indicators and dimensions of inequality that are particularly relevant to each country. Drawing upon the outputs of within-country inequality monitoring, policies can be tailored to be maximally effective in reducing inequalities.3 At the same time, having comparable disaggregated data across countries is important to track within-country inequality at a regional or global level. One of the SDG targets specifically addresses the importance of disaggregated data, calling on countries to increase “…the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts”.
Such disaggregated data are vital to identify where and why inequalities exist and ensure that policies, programmes and practices are successful in reaching the most vulnerable. Many countries have made major progress in monitoring health inequalities through household surveys such as Demographic and Health Surveys…
Keywords / Palabras clave: Social Determinants of Health, Inequalities, Health Systems
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