The concepts and principles of equity and health [antikvár]

All the 32 Member States in the World Health Organization EuropeanRegion adopted a common health policy in 1980, followed by unani-mous agreement on 38 regional targets in 1984. The first of these targetsis concerned with equity:By the year 2000, the actual differences in health status between countriesand between groups within countries should be reduced by at least 25%,by improving the level of health of disadvantaged nations and groups (1).In addition, equity is an underlying concept in many of the othertargets. At present, the targets are being reassessed and revised, inparticular moving away from a focus on physical health status asmeasured by mortality to encompass, wherever possible, many otherdimensions of health and wellbeing. But still the underlying concept ofequity in health has been judged to be just as important for the 1990s asit was when the programme began (2).However, it has not always been clear what is meant by equity andhealth, and this paper sets out to clarify the concepts and principles.This is not meant to be a technical document, but one aimed at raisingawareness and stimulating debate in a wide general audience, includ-ing all those whose policies have an influence on health, both withinand outside the health sector.