Articles

A model of disparities: risk factors associated with COVID-19 infection

By mid-May 2020, there were over 1.5 million cases of (SARS-CoV-2) or COVID-19 across the U.S. with new confirmed cases continuing to rise following the re-opening of most states. Prior studies have focused ma...

Authors: Yelena Rozenfeld, Jennifer Beam, Haley Maier, Whitney Haggerson, Karen Boudreau, Jamie Carlson and Rhonda Medows

“Bayis Ilh Tus – a strong breath” a community-based research project to estimate the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in remote and rural first nations communities in Canada: research protocol

Respiratory health conditions appear to be more common among First Nations people versus non-First Nations people in Canada. However, the prevalence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and its asso...

Authors: Justin Turner, Travis Holyk, Karen Bartlett, Benna Rathburn, Barbara Karlen, Francis Ervin, Jennifer Wilson and Pat G. Camp

Measuring socioeconomic gaps in nutrition and early child development in Bolivia

A large body of evidence shows that socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated to children’s early development, health and nutrition. Few studies have looked at within sample differences across multiple...

Authors: Pablo Celhay, Sebastian Martinez and Cecilia Vidal

Erosion of universal health coverage and trend in the frequency of physician consultations in Spain

We studied the frequency of physician visits in the native and immigrant populations in Spain before and after implementation of a governmental measure to restrict the use of public healthcare services by undo...

Authors: Lourdes Lostao, Elena Ronda, Cruz Pascual, Lucía Cea-Soriano, Almudena Moreno and Enrique Regidor

COVID-19 in Yemen: a crisis within crises

Yemen is suffering deadly airstrikes and heavy bombardment since March 2015 which has created one of the most severe humanitarian crises worldwide. In this miserable situation, several communicable diseases ha...

Authors: Seyyed Meysam Mousavi and Mina Anjomshoa

Impact of maternal death reviews at a rural hospital in Zambia: a mixed methods study

Maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa remains high despite programmatic efforts to improve maternal health. In 2007, the Zambian Ministry of Health mandated facility-based maternal death review (MDR) progra...

Authors: Jean-Bertin Bukasa Kabuya, Arthur Mataka, Gerald Chongo, Luc Kambale Kamavu, Priscilla N’gandu Chola, Christine Manyando, Vincent De Brouwere and Matthew M. Ippolito

The safety of health care for ethnic minority patients: a systematic review

Evidence to date indicates that patients from ethnic minority backgrounds may experience disparity in the quality and safety of health care they receive due to a range of socio-cultural factors. Although heigh...

Authors: Ashfaq Chauhan, Merrilyn Walton, Elizabeth Manias, Ramesh Lahiru Walpola, Holly Seale, Monika Latanik, Desiree Leone, Stephen Mears and Reema Harrison

Socioeconomic differences in caesarean section – are they explained by medical need? An analysis of patient record data of a large Kenyan hospital

Caesarean section (C-section) rates are often low among the poor and very high among the better-off in low- and middle-income countries. We examined to what extent these differences are explained by medical ne...

Authors: Lisa van der Spek, Sterre Sanglier, Hillary M. Mabeya, Thomas van den Akker, Paul L. J. M. Mertens and Tanja A. J. Houweling

When accountability meets power: realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights

This paper addresses a critical concern in realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights through policies and programs – the relationship between power and accountability. We examine accountability strat...

Authors: Gita Sen, Aditi Iyer, Sreeparna Chattopadhyay and Rajat Khosla

Global health activists’ lessons on building social movements for Health for All

The People’s Health Movement (PHM) was formed in 2000 and drew inspiration from the Alma Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care’s ‘Health for All’ (1978). Since then PHM has been an active part of a global cou...

Authors: Connie Musolino, Fran Baum, Toby Freeman, Ronald Labonté, Chiara Bodini and David Sanders

Quality of care for Black and Latina women living with HIV in the U.S.: a qualitative study

Ending the HIV epidemic requires that women living with HIV (WLWH) have access to structurally competent HIV-related and other health care. WLWH may not regularly engage in care due to inadequate quality; howe...

Authors: Whitney S. Rice, Faith E. Fletcher, Busola Akingbade, Mary Kan, Samantha Whitfield, Shericia Ross, C. Ann Gakumo, Igho Ofotokun, Deborah J. Konkle-Parker, Mardge H. Cohen, Gina M. Wingood, Brian W. Pence, Adaora A. Adimora, Tonya N. Taylor, Tracey E. Wilson, Sheri D. Weiser…

Race, socioeconomic deprivation, and hospitalization for COVID-19 in English participants of a national biobank

Preliminary reports suggest that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID− 19) pandemic has led to disproportionate morbidity and mortality among historically disadvantaged populations. We investigate the racial an...

Authors: Aniruddh P. Patel, Manish D. Paranjpe, Nina P. Kathiresan, Manuel A. Rivas and Amit V. Khera

Multimorbidity and chronic diseases among undocumented migrants: evidence to contradict the myths

There is little verified information on the global health status of undocumented migrants (UMs). Our aim is to compare the prevalence of the main chronic diseases and of multimorbidity in undocumented migrants...

Authors: Luis Andrés Gimeno-Feliu, Marta Pastor-Sanz, Beatriz Poblador-Plou, Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga, Esperanza Díaz and Alexandra Prados-Torres

Setting health care services tariffs in Iran: half a century quest for a window of opportunity

The process of medical tariffs setting in Iran remains to be a contentious issue and is heavily criticized by many stakeholders. This paper explores the experience of setting health care services tariffs in th...

Authors: Leila Doshmangir, Arash Rashidian, Farhad Kouhi and Vladimir Sergeevich Gordeev

Perceptions and experiences of frontline health managers and providers on accountability in a South African health district

Public primary health care and district health systems play important roles in expanding healthcare access and promoting equity. This study explored and described accountability for this mandate as perceived a...

Authors: Fidele Kanyimbu Mukinda, Sara Van Belle and Helen Schneider

Health inequity in workers of Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the world’s most inequitable region in terms of wealth distribution. The full scale of social inequalities in health has been hidden by the lack of reliable data. This ...

Authors: Michael Silva-Peñaherrera, María Lopez-Ruiz, Pamela Merino-Salazar, Antonio Ramón Gómez-García and Fernando G. Benavides

Opportunities for gender transformative approaches in a community-based drowning reduction program in Bangladesh

Community-based programs in rural low-and middle-income country settings are well-placed to conduct gender transformative activities that aid program sustainability and catalyse wider social change, such as re...

Authors: M. Gupta, A. Rahman, N. C. Dutta, D. Nambiar, R. Ivers and J. Jagnoor

Two-eyed seeing of the integration of oral health in primary health care in Indigenous populations: a scoping review

Indigenous people experience significant poor oral health outcomes and poorer access to oral health care in comparison to the general population. The integration of oral health care with primary health care ha...

Authors: Richa Shrivastava, Yves Couturier, Felix Girard, Lucie Papineau and Elham Emami

“Everything is provided free, but they are still hesitant to access healthcare services”: why does the indigenous community in Attapadi, Kerala continue to experience poor access to healthcare?

Inequity in access to healthcare services is a constant concern. While advances in healthcare have progressed in the last several decades, thereby significantly improving the prevention and treatment of diseas...

Authors: Mathew Sunil George, Rachel Davey, Itismita Mohanty and Penney Upton

Health equity and COVID-19: global perspectives

The COVID-19 is disproportionally affecting the poor, minorities and a broad range of vulnerable populations, due to its inequitable spread in areas of dense population and limited mitigation capacity due to h...

Authors: Efrat Shadmi, Yingyao Chen, Inês Dourado, Inbal Faran-Perach, John Furler, Peter Hangoma, Piya Hanvoravongchai, Claudia Obando, Varduhi Petrosyan, Krishna D. Rao, Ana Lorena Ruano, Leiyu Shi, Luis Eugenio de Souza, Sivan Spitzer-Shohat, Elizabeth Sturgiss, Rapeepong Suphanchaimat…

A case study of using the He Pikinga Waiora Implementation Framework: challenges and successes in implementing a twelve-week lifestyle intervention to reduce weight in Māori men at risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity

Māori men have stark health inequities around non-communicable diseases. This study describes the case of a partnership attempting to develop and implement a culturally centred intervention through a collabora...

Authors: John Oetzel, Moana Rarere, Ray Wihapi, Carey Manuel and Jade Tapsell

A distributional regression approach to income-related inequality of health in Australia

Several studies have confirmed the existence of a significant positive relationship between income and health. Conventional regression techniques such as Ordinary Least Squares only help identify the effect of...

Authors: Roselinde Kessels, Anne Hoornweg, Thi Kim Thanh Bui and Guido Erreygers

Towards an indigenous definition of health: an explorative study to understand the indigenous Ecuadorian people’s health and illness concepts

An intercultural society facilitates equitable and respectful interrelations. Knowing and understanding each other’s sociocultural and linguitic contexts is a prerequisite for an intercultural society. This st...

Authors: Estefanía Bautista-Valarezo, Víctor Duque, Adriana Elizabeth Verdugo Sánchez, Viviana Dávalos-Batallas, Nele R. M. Michels, Kristin Hendrickx and Veronique Verhoeven

Influence of China’s 2009 healthcare reform on the utilisation of continuum of care for maternal health services: evidence from two cross-sectional household surveys in Shaanxi Province

Continuum of care for maternal health services (CMHS) is a proven approach to improve health and safety for mothers and newborns. This study aims to explore the influence of China’s 2009 healthcare reform on i...

Authors: Xiaojing Fan, Meghan Bruce Kumar, Zhongliang Zhou, Ching-Hung Lee, Duolao Wang, Haixia Liu, Shaonong Dang and Jianmin Gao

Measuring spatial accessibility and within-province disparities in accessibility to county hospitals in Shaanxi Province of Western China based on web mapping navigation data

The Chinese government proposed the “XIAO BING BU CHU CUN, DA BING BU CHU XIAN” initiative in 2016, which states the rate of health care service provided by county hospitals should reach 90% of overall health ...

Authors: Chi Shen, Zhongliang Zhou, Sha Lai, Li Lu, Wanyue Dong, Min Su, Jian Zhang, Xinyu Wang, Qiwei Deng, Yaru Chen and Xi Chen

Intersecting inequalities, gender and adolescent health in Ethiopia

Until recently, global public health initiatives have tended to overlook the ways that social factors shape adolescent health, and particularly how these dynamics affect the specific needs of adolescents in re...

Authors: Nicola Jones, Kate Pincock, Sarah Baird, Workneh Yadete and Joan Hamory Hicks

The inequality of health-income effect in employed workers in China: a longitudinal study from China Family Panel Studies

The relationship between health and income is an essential part of human capital research. The majority of current analyses using classical regression models show that health has a significant impact on income...

Authors: Mengxue Xie, Zhiyong Huang and Wenbin Zang

Transformative medical education: must community-based traineeship experiences be part of the curriculum? A qualitative study

There are shortcomings in medical practitioners’ capacity to adapt to the particular needs of people experiencing circumstances of social vulnerability. Clinical traineeships create opportunities for the acqui...

Authors: Julie Massé, Sophie Dupéré, Élisabeth Martin and Martine C. Lévesque

Coronavirus disease 19 in minority populations of Newark, New Jersey

The purpose of this study is to report the clinical features and outcomes of Black/African American (AA) and Latino Hispanic patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) hospitalized in an inter-city hosp...

Authors: Alexis K. Okoh, Christoph Sossou, Neha S. Dangayach, Sherin Meledathu, Oluwakemi Phillips, Corinne Raczek, Michael Patti, Nathan Kang, Sameer A. Hirji, Charles Cathcart, Christian Engell, Marc Cohen, Sandhya Nagarakanti, Eliahu Bishburg and Harpreet S. Grewal

The health equity in all policies (HEiAP) approach before and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic in the Italian context

Authors: R. Bucciardini, B. Contoli, P. De Castro, C. Donfrancesco, L. Falzano, R. Ferrelli, A. M. Giammarioli, B. Mattioli, E. Medda, V. Minardi, G. Minelli, L. Palmieri, R. Pasetto, E. Pizzi, S. Rossi and A. Venerosi

Who is going to pay the price of Covid-19? Reflections about an unequal Brazil

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused high mortality rates among older people, and in order to avoid a healthcare system crisis, almost all countries worldwide have adopted social isolation measures to prevent the ...

Authors: Fabiana Ribeiro and Anja Leist

Health care trajectories and barriers to treatment for patients with end-stage renal disease without health insurance in Mexico: a mixed methods approach

Mexico has the sixth-highest premature death rate from chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the world. From 1990 to 2017, the age-standardized CKD mortality rate jumped from 28.7 to 58.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, ma...

Authors: Marcela Agudelo-Botero, María Cecilia González-Robledo, Hortensia Reyes-Morales, Liliana Giraldo-Rodríguez, Mario Rojas-Russell, Dolores Mino-León, Dayan Irene Ocampo-Morales and Rafael Valdez-Ortiz

Is the allocation of medical and health resources effective? Characteristic facts from regional heterogeneity in China

Over the last decade, the expenditure on public medical and health has increased greatly in China, however, problems as low efficiency and unfairness still exist. How to accurately describe the effectiveness o...

Authors: Ming Yi, Jiachao Peng, Lian Zhang and Yao Zhang

Extent of and trends in inequalities in child stunting in Sierra-Leone from 2005 to 2013: evidence from demographic and health surveys and multiple indicator cluster surveys

Comprehensive assessment of stunting disparity in Sierra-Leone has not been done so far. We aimed to document extent and over time dynamics of inequality in stunting in Sierra-Leone using approaches that facil...

Authors: Gebretsadik Shibre, Betregiorigis Zegeye and Jemal Haidar

An urgent call to address the nutritional status of women and children in Nepal during COVID-19 crises

Due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown in Nepal, women and children face a greater risk of malnutrition and eventually leading to mortality and morbidity. To harness the progress made so far in improving the n...

Authors: Bindu Panthi, Pratik Khanal, Minakshi Dahal, Sajana Maharjan and Sushil Nepal

Research priorities in healthcare of persons experiencing homelessness: outcomes of a national multi-disciplinary stakeholder discussion in the United Kingdom

Persons experiencing homelessness (PEH) face up to twelve times higher mortality rates compared to the general population. There is a need to develop, evaluate and implement novel interventions to minimise suc...

Authors: Parbir Jagpal, Karen Saunders, Gunveer Plahe, Sean Russell, Nigel Barnes, Richard Lowrie and Vibhu Paudyal

Self-rated health inequalities in the intersection of gender, social class and regional development in Spain: exploring contributions of material and psychosocial factors

Inequalities in health across social class, gender and regional context in Spain are well-known; however, there is a lack of research examining how these dimensions of inequality interact. This study explores ...

Authors: Núria Pedrós Barnils, Eva Eurenius and Per E. Gustafsson

Assessing health outcomes in the aftermath of the great recession: a comparison of Spain and the Netherlands

Across time and space, financial security has been shown to impact health outcomes, with the acute loss of financial security being particularly detrimental. We compare financial security’s association with he...

Authors: Kristina Thompson, Annemarie Wagemakers and Johan van Ophem

Constructing social identity through multiple “us and them”: a grounded theory study of how contextual factors are manifested in the lives of residents of a vulnerable district in Brazil

The association between contextual factors and health inequalities is well documented, also in Brazil. However, questions about how contextual factors actually affect health and well-being persist. The aim of ...

Authors: Natalia Vincens, Martin Stafström, Efigênia Ferreira and Maria Emmelin

Inequalities in access to water and soap matter for the COVID-19 response in sub-Saharan Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread rapidly since the first case notification of the WHO in December 2019. Lacking an effective treatment, countries have implemented non-pharmaceutical interventions including soc...

Authors: Safia S. Jiwani and Daniel A. Antiporta

COVID-19 and informal settlements: an urgent call to rethink urban governance

Authors: S. Van Belle, C. Affun-Adegbulu, W. Soors, Prashanth N. Srinivas, G. Hegel, W. Van Damme, D. Saluja, I. Abejirinde, E. Wouters, C. Masquillier, H. Tabana, F. Chenge, K. Polman and B. Marchal

Salutogenic model of health to identify turning points and coping styles for eating practices in type 2 diabetes mellitus

It is important for people with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) to eat healthily. However, implementing dietary advice in everyday life is difficult, because eating is not a distinguishable action, but a chain...

Authors: C. M. M. Polhuis, L. Vaandrager, S. S. Soedamah-Muthu and M. A. Koelen

Living or deceased-donor kidney transplant: the role of psycho-socioeconomic factors and outcomes associated with each type of transplant

Kidney transplant improves patients’ survival and quality of life. Worldwide, concern about the equality of access to the renal transplant wait-list is increasing. In Iran, patients have the choice to be place...

Authors: Abbas Basiri, Maryam Taheri, Alireza Khoshdel, Shabnam Golshan, Hamed Mohseni-rad, Nasrin Borumandnia, Nasser Simforoosh, Mohsen Nafar, Majid Aliasgari, Mohammad Hossein Nourbala, Gholamreza Pourmand, Soudabeh Farhangi and Nastaran Khalili

Access to skilled attendant at birth and the coverage of the third dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine across 14 West African countries – an equity analysis

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) remains a critical public health goal that continues to elude many countries of the global south. As countries strive for its attainment, it is important to track progress in va...

Authors: Jacob Albin Korem Alhassan, Oghenebrume Wariri, Egwu Onuwabuchi, Godwin Mark, Yakubu Kwarshak and Eseoghene Dase

Is Nigeria prepared and ready to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in its conflict-affected northeastern states?

Northeastern Nigeria has over the decade suffered from the Boko Haram insurgency and is still in the process of recovery from the complex humanitarian crisis that has displaced and subjected millions of vulner...

Authors: Salman Jidda Tijjani and Le Ma

Why social justice matters: a context for suicide prevention efforts

Suicide is among the 10 leading causes of death in the US and has the potential to suddenly change many lives. It often occurs when people are disproportionately affected by societal conditions, including ineq...

Authors: Shirley Hochhauser, Satya Rao, Elizabeth England-Kennedy and Sharmistha Roy

Role of social and other determinants of health in the effect of a multicomponent integrated care strategy on type 2 diabetes mellitus

Although important advances in treatment strategies have been developed in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), large gaps exist in achieving glycemic control and preventing complications, particularly in low-and ...

Authors: Rubén Silva-Tinoco, Teresa Cuatecontzi-Xochitiotzi, Viridiana De la Torre-Saldaña, Enrique León-García, Javier Serna-Alvarado, Eileen Guzmán-Olvera, Dolores Cabrera, Juan G. Gay and Diddier Prada

How community sport programs may improve the health of vulnerable population groups: a program theory

Groups at risk of exclusion from society appear to have a lower health status and more health-related problems. Prevention efforts in these groups are not always successful, and new ways have to be sought by w...

Authors: Karen Van der Veken, Emelien Lauwerier and Sara J. Willems

COVID-19: a plea to protect the older population

Authors: Daniele Carrieri, Fedro Alessandro Peccatori and Giovanni Boniolo

Costing of actions to safeguard vulnerable Mexican households with young children from the consequences of COVID-19 social distancing measures

COVID-19 has imposed unprecedented challenges to society. As the pandemic evolves, the social distancing measures that have been globally enforced, while essential, are having undesirable socioeconomic side ef...

Authors: Mireya Vilar-Compte, Víctor Pérez, Graciela Teruel, Aranzazu Alonso and Rafael Pérez-Escamilla