How has my perceptions of equity, equality and access in health changed? How will this influence my future goals for healthcare service delivery?
I knew that equality meant equal distribution of resources and that everyone is treated the same. I also knew that equity is the fair of distribution of resources according to an individual’s needs, providing the necessary tools for everyone to succeed. What I leant is how to apply these to health. Health Inequality is the difference in health status (outcomes) or distribution of health resources between different populations and this can happen when vulnerabilities are not considered, so there is inequitable health and distribution of resources. Therefore, it is important to utilise the community diagnosis that we learnt about in Public Health in week 2 session 2.
Health equity is the absence of systematic disparities in health or major social determinants of health between groups of various levels of underlying social advantage or disadvantage. Health inequity is systematically putting groups of people who are already socially disadvantaged at a further disadvantage regarding their health.
Access to health care is being able to utilise health care services whenever they are needed but if the healthcare centre does not have the necessary resources or the person is a part is part of a socially disadvantaged group that the health system discriminates against, it would be difficult to access the health services need. The health system must be revised to get rid of any health inequity and inequality. I as a future health professional will work to address those parts of the health system that do not serve the people of the community.
References:
Gulliford, M., Figueroa-Munoz, J., Morgan, M., Hughes, D., Gibson, B., Beech, R. and Hudson, M., 2002. What does ‘access to health care’ mean?. Journal of health services research & policyLinks to an external site., 7(3), pp.186-188.
Thiede, Akweongo & McIntyre (2007). Exploring the dimensions of access. In: McIntyre & Mooney (Eds). The economics of health equity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
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