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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2009

Gavin Mooney
Affiliation:
Director of Social and Public Health Economics Research Group, Curtin University, Bentley Campus, Room 436 Bldg 400 Perth, WA 6845, Australia
Di McIntyre
Affiliation:
School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road Observatory 7925 Cape Town, South Africa
Di McIntyre
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Gavin Mooney
Affiliation:
Curtin University of Technology, Perth
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Summary

Equity in health and equity in health care have been ill-served in recent years. While for many health care systems equity is stated to be an important goal, in several of these equity in policy terms has been paid little more than lip-service. While it is also the case that there has been an increasing research interest in the social determinants of health, the extent to which the recognition of the impact of these on health has led to action at a policy level has been limited. Poverty and inequality are now well recognized in the academic literature, especially in social epidemiology but in public health more generally, as contributing to population ill health. National and global policy makers, however, have been all too little concerned to address poverty and inequality and, inevitably, even less concerned to do so for reasons purely of improving health.

Health economists have contributed considerably to debates about the construct of equity in health care, be this seen in terms of health, access or use and whether horizontal or vertical equity. Beyond considerable success in the 1970s and 1980s in assisting methodologically to improving equity in health care through needs-based, RAWP-type resource allocation formulae (DHSS 1976), policy on equity in health care has been a field where health economists have made relatively little impact.

Considerations of ‘need’ were initially very useful in RAWP-type resource allocation formulae and indeed the scene of most policy success by economists on equity in health care.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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References

Coburn, D. (2000) Income inequality, social cohesion and the health status of populations: the role of neoliberalism. Social Science & Medicine. 51: 135–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Culyer, A. J. (1991) Equity in health care policy. Paper prepared for the Ontario Premier's Council on Health, Well-Being and Social Justice. Toronto: University of Toronto.Google Scholar
Deaton, A. (2003) Health inequality and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature. 41(1): 113–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health and Social Security (1976). Sharing Resources for Health in England. Report of the Resource Allocation Working Party. London: HMSO.
Foot, M. (1973) Aneurin Bevan. London: MacGibbon and Kee.Google Scholar
Hertel, T. W. and Winters, L. A. (2006) Poverty and the WTO: Impacts of the Doha Development Agenda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan and the World Bank.Google Scholar
Navarro, V. (2002) (ed.) The Political Economy of Social Inequalities. New York: Baywood.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1992) Inequality Re-examined. Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Wilkinson, R. and Marmot, M. (2003) Social Determinants of Health: The Solid Facts. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe.Google Scholar

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  • Why this book?
    • By Gavin Mooney, Director of Social and Public Health Economics Research Group, Curtin University, Bentley Campus, Room 436 Bldg 400 Perth, WA 6845, Australia, Di McIntyre, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road Observatory 7925 Cape Town, South Africa
  • Edited by Di McIntyre, University of Cape Town, Gavin Mooney, Curtin University of Technology, Perth
  • Book: The Economics of Health Equity
  • Online publication: 22 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544460.002
Available formats
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  • Why this book?
    • By Gavin Mooney, Director of Social and Public Health Economics Research Group, Curtin University, Bentley Campus, Room 436 Bldg 400 Perth, WA 6845, Australia, Di McIntyre, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road Observatory 7925 Cape Town, South Africa
  • Edited by Di McIntyre, University of Cape Town, Gavin Mooney, Curtin University of Technology, Perth
  • Book: The Economics of Health Equity
  • Online publication: 22 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544460.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Why this book?
    • By Gavin Mooney, Director of Social and Public Health Economics Research Group, Curtin University, Bentley Campus, Room 436 Bldg 400 Perth, WA 6845, Australia, Di McIntyre, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, Anzio Road Observatory 7925 Cape Town, South Africa
  • Edited by Di McIntyre, University of Cape Town, Gavin Mooney, Curtin University of Technology, Perth
  • Book: The Economics of Health Equity
  • Online publication: 22 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544460.002
Available formats
×