Learn about health equity
What is health equity? Why does health equity matter?
- Health equity is the idea that everyone deserves a fair and equal opportunity to attain their full “health potential.” It is the pursuit of eliminating health disparities, because health is a fundamental human right. The goal is to ensure that no one is at a disadvantage due to reasons beyond their control.
- Health and health equity are determined by the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play, and age, as well as biological determinants.
- Health equity can be achieved by addressing systemic problems that perpetuate health disparities.
Important Definitions
Equity
The absence of unfair, avoidable, or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically or by other dimensions of inequality (e.g. sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation).
Social Determinants of Health
The non-medical factors that influence health outcomes. They are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.
Health Disparities
The occurrence of diseases at greater levels among certain population groups more than among others.