Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans
There is growing recognition that health and well-being improvements have not been shared across populations in the Americas. This article analyzes 32 national health sector policies, strategies, and plans across 10 different areas of health equity to understand, from one perspective, how equity is...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:c7c1c923c94e4b84a64c55f0dbf6f098 2023-05-15T15:13:37+02:00 Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans Matthew M. Kavanagh Laura Fernanda Norato Eric A. Friedman Adria N. Armbriste 2021-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.29 https://doaj.org/article/c7c1c923c94e4b84a64c55f0dbf6f098 EN ES PT eng spa por Pan American Health Organization https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/53743 https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-5348 1020-4989 1680-5348 doi:10.26633/RPSP.2021.29 https://doaj.org/article/c7c1c923c94e4b84a64c55f0dbf6f098 Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 45, Iss 29, Pp 1-11 (2021) health equity public policy health policy health systems plans americas Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.29 2022-12-31T15:23:45Z There is growing recognition that health and well-being improvements have not been shared across populations in the Americas. This article analyzes 32 national health sector policies, strategies, and plans across 10 different areas of health equity to understand, from one perspective, how equity is being addressed in the region. It finds significant variation in the substance and structure of how the health plans handle the issue. Nearly all countries explicitly include health equity as a clear goal, and most address the social determinants of health. Participatory processes documented in the development of these plans range from none to extensive and robust. Substantive equity-focused policies, such as those to improve physical accessibility of health care and increase affordable access to medicines, are included in many plans, though no country includes all aspects examined. Countries identify marginalized populations in their plans, though only a quarter specifically identify Afro-descendants and more than half do not address Indigenous people, including countries with large Indigenous populations. Four include attention to migrants. Despite health equity goals and data on baseline inequities, fewer than half of countries include time-bound targets on reducing absolute or relative health inequalities. Clear accountability mechanisms such as education, reporting, or rights-enforcement mechanisms in plans are rare. The nearly unanimous commitment across countries of the Americas to equity in health provides an important opportunity. Learning from the most robust equity-focused plans could provide a road map for efforts to translate broad goals into time-bound targets and eventually to increasing equity. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Handle The ENVELOPE(161.983,161.983,-78.000,-78.000) Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública 45 1 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
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English Spanish Portuguese |
topic |
health equity public policy health policy health systems plans americas Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
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health equity public policy health policy health systems plans americas Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Matthew M. Kavanagh Laura Fernanda Norato Eric A. Friedman Adria N. Armbriste Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans |
topic_facet |
health equity public policy health policy health systems plans americas Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
There is growing recognition that health and well-being improvements have not been shared across populations in the Americas. This article analyzes 32 national health sector policies, strategies, and plans across 10 different areas of health equity to understand, from one perspective, how equity is being addressed in the region. It finds significant variation in the substance and structure of how the health plans handle the issue. Nearly all countries explicitly include health equity as a clear goal, and most address the social determinants of health. Participatory processes documented in the development of these plans range from none to extensive and robust. Substantive equity-focused policies, such as those to improve physical accessibility of health care and increase affordable access to medicines, are included in many plans, though no country includes all aspects examined. Countries identify marginalized populations in their plans, though only a quarter specifically identify Afro-descendants and more than half do not address Indigenous people, including countries with large Indigenous populations. Four include attention to migrants. Despite health equity goals and data on baseline inequities, fewer than half of countries include time-bound targets on reducing absolute or relative health inequalities. Clear accountability mechanisms such as education, reporting, or rights-enforcement mechanisms in plans are rare. The nearly unanimous commitment across countries of the Americas to equity in health provides an important opportunity. Learning from the most robust equity-focused plans could provide a road map for efforts to translate broad goals into time-bound targets and eventually to increasing equity. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Matthew M. Kavanagh Laura Fernanda Norato Eric A. Friedman Adria N. Armbriste |
author_facet |
Matthew M. Kavanagh Laura Fernanda Norato Eric A. Friedman Adria N. Armbriste |
author_sort |
Matthew M. Kavanagh |
title |
Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans |
title_short |
Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans |
title_full |
Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans |
title_fullStr |
Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans |
title_full_unstemmed |
Planning for health equity in the Americas: an analysis of national health plans |
title_sort |
planning for health equity in the americas: an analysis of national health plans |
publisher |
Pan American Health Organization |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.29 https://doaj.org/article/c7c1c923c94e4b84a64c55f0dbf6f098 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(161.983,161.983,-78.000,-78.000) |
geographic |
Arctic Handle The |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Handle The |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 45, Iss 29, Pp 1-11 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://iris.paho.org/handle/10665.2/53743 https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-5348 1020-4989 1680-5348 doi:10.26633/RPSP.2021.29 https://doaj.org/article/c7c1c923c94e4b84a64c55f0dbf6f098 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2021.29 |
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Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública |
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45 |
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