Health Inequality across Populations of Individuals

Abstract

This paper discusses the many dimensions of health inequality, a multi-faceted concept, which examines the dispersion in the distribution of health spending, the provision of health services, health capabilities and health outcomes. The underlying concern is motivated by issues of both social justice and economic efficiency, recognizing health's central role as a condition of human existence. While the paper includes a wide-ranging discussion of conceptual issues, most of it is devoted to introducing approaches to empirical analysis of health inequality, ranging from fiscal incidence to decomposition analysis. It also focuses on the distinction between the univariate and gradient approaches. The former involves making comparisons of cardinal or scalar indicators of health inequality and distributions of health, regardless of whether health is correlated with welfare measured along other dimensions. This univariate approach measures pure inequalities in health in a fashion that is similar to what is done for income distribution. In contrast, the gradient approach generally focuses on making comparisons of health across populations with different social and economic characteristics.

What lessons can Africa learn from the social determinants of COVID‐19 spread, to better prepare for the current and future pandemics in the continent?

“…Existing studies on the COVID‐19 pandemic have paid attention mostly to one or a few cause factors at a time such as age (Gardner et al, 2020) and obesity (Sattar et al, 2020). Wealth (Krisberg, 2016), economic activities (Adda, 2016), poverty, inequality, demographic factors and socioeconomic status (Ajakaiye & Mwabu, 2012; Jeon et al, 2010; Sahn, 2012; Ssewanyana & Kasirye, 2012; Mugo, 2012) have been highlighted in a broader consideration of health. There is therefore a need to identify the key socioeconomic determinants of the spread of the disease in Africa.…”