Health Equality and Health Disparities
Health Sciences Librarian, School of Nursing Liaison
2100 W 39th Street
Kansas City, KS 66160
Office Hours: Tues/Wed 7:30-8:30am and 3-4pm CT
How to use this guide?
You can use the definitions, links, and more to find information and research on health equity and health disparities.
Definitions
Health Equity
Health equity is the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health (CDC, 2024).
Health Justice
Health justice is both a community-led movement for power building and transformational change and a community-oriented framework for health law scholarship. Health justice is distinguished by a distinctively social ethic of care that reframes the relationship between health care, public health, and the social determinants of health, and names subordination as the root cause of health inequities (Wiley, et al., 2022).
Health Disparity
A decline in a dynamic state or condition of physical and psychological wellbeing for one individual or group compared with another that is not a result of individual physiologic variance (Fink, 2009).
Healthcare Disparities
Difference in access to or availability of medical facilities and services (MeSH Controlled Vocabulary, 2008).
Health Status Disparities
Variation in the rates of disease occurance and disabilities between socioeconomic and/or geographically defined population groups (MeSH controlled Vocabulary, 2008).
Minority Health
The concept covering the physical and mental conditions of members of minority groups (MeSH Controlled Vocabulary, 2008) (See the reasons for this problematic concept in article below - Sotto-Santiago, 2019).
- Toward a New Definition of Health Disparity: A Concept Analysis.Fink AM. (2009). Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 20(4):349-357. doi:10.1177/1043659609340802
- Time to Reconsider the Word Minority in Academic MedicineSotto-Santiago, S. (2019). Journal of Best Practices in Health Professions Diversity, 12(1), 72-78.
- What is Health Justice?Wiley, L. F., Yearby, R., Clark, B. R., & Mohapatra, S. (2022). The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 50(4), 636–640. https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2023.2
Why does it Matter?
- Disparities in Health and Health Care: Five Key Questions and Answers"Disparities in health and health care not only affect the groups facing disparities, but also limit overall improvements in quality of care and health for the broader population and result in unnecessary costs. As the population becomes more diverse, with people of color projected to account for over half of the population in 2045, it is increasingly important to address health disparities" (Artiga, para. 2, 2016)
- History of Health Equity and Health DisparitiesUMKC has gathered articles explaining what health equity/justice is and why it exists.
- Executive Orders and Public HealthIn response to the recent flurry of federal executive orders, Act for Public Health presents these FAQs to help readers understand executive orders, the goals and limits of their application, and how public health practitioners might think about them. While executive orders can be issued at all levels of government (federal, state, and local), this explainer focuses only on federal executive orders.
