Global Response to Social and Health Inequities

Abstract

The global responses—national and transnational—to health inequities, within the globalization context as a multidimensional determinant and planetary phenomenon, are addressed in this chapter. These responses require not only identifying and analyzing the main reasons why these inequities originate and remain over time with moderate advances. This rationality also requires a relational analysis that could be synthesized in the following questions: How can health inequities be reduced in low- and middle-income countries, where socioeconomic conditions have historically lagged behind those of other countries, in a differentiated way? An additional question to ponder is whether it is feasible to reduce health inequities in a sustainable way without reducing the impact of socioeconomic inequalities, which are systematically increasing in the Latin American region? The response to the previous questions must transcend the rhetoric surrounding them and be reflected in a real commitment embodied concretely in territorial development and operational plans. The authors of this publication hold that it is essential to address social inequities in order to have a significant impact on health inequities. One example is the association between poverty and health, a link that has been repeatedly demonstrated by several authors (Inequidad, ciudadanía y pueblos indígenas en Chile, Santiago de Chile, 2003; Cruz Ferré Int J Health Serv 46:501–522, 2016), who show the close connection between income inequality and health outcomes of some segments of the population and the different ethnic groups that make it up. Why, then, have interventions to reduce health inequities focused mainly on improving access and coverage to specific services? It is for this reason that sociopolitical actions should focus on strengthening societal movements in territories in order to sustain these processes.

Appendix

Table 2.2 Interventions aimed at reducing inequities in health