Equity-oriented monitoring in the context of Universal Health Coverage

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorHosseinpoor, A.
dc.contributor.authorBergen, N.
dc.contributor.authorKoller, T.
dc.contributor.authorPrasad, A.
dc.contributor.authorSchlotheuber, A.
dc.contributor.authorValentine, N.
dc.contributor.authorLynch, J.
dc.contributor.authorVega, J.
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractMonitoring inequalities in health is fundamental to the equitable and progressive realization of universal health coverage (UHC). A successful approach to global inequality monitoring must be intuitive enough for widespread adoption, yet maintain technical credibility. This article discusses methodological considerations for equity-oriented monitoring of UHC, and proposes recommendations for monitoring and target setting. Inequality is multidimensional, such that the extent of inequality may vary considerably across different dimensions such as economic status, education, sex, and urban/rural residence. Hence, global monitoring should include complementary dimensions of inequality (such as economic status and urban/rural residence) as well as sex. For a given dimension of inequality, subgroups for monitoring must be formulated taking into consideration applicability of the criteria across countries and subgroup heterogeneity. For economic-related inequality, we recommend forming subgroups as quintiles, and for urban/rural inequality we recommend a binary categorization. Inequality spans populations, thus appropriate approaches to monitoring should be based on comparisons between two subgroups (gap approach) or across multiple subgroups (whole spectrum approach). When measuring inequality absolute and relative measures should be reported together, along with disaggregated data; inequality should be reported alongside the national average. We recommend targets based on proportional reductions in absolute inequality across populations. Building capacity for health inequality monitoring is timely, relevant, and important. The development of high-quality health information systems, including data collection, analysis, interpretation, and reporting practices that are linked to review and evaluation cycles across health systems, will enable effective global and national health inequality monitoring. These actions will support equity-oriented progressive realization of UHC.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityAhmad Reza Hosseinpoor, Nicole Bergen, Theadora Koller, Amit Prasad, Anne Schlotheuber, Nicole Valentine, John Lynch, Jeanette Vega
dc.identifier.citationPLoS Medicine, 2014; 11(9):e1001727-1-e1001727-9
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pmed.1001727
dc.identifier.issn1549-1277
dc.identifier.issn1549-1676
dc.identifier.orcidLynch, J. [0000-0003-2781-7902]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/89716
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherPublic Library of Science
dc.relation.grantNHMRC
dc.rights© 2014 Hosseinpoor et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001727
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectSocioeconomic Factors
dc.subjectHealth Resources
dc.subjectHealth Status Disparities
dc.subjectGlobal Health
dc.subjectUniversal Health Insurance
dc.titleEquity-oriented monitoring in the context of Universal Health Coverage
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
hdl_89716.pdf
Size:
534.16 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Published version
Download

Collections

Public Health publications