4 Health Disparities and Health Equity Free Online FlashCards

What is a health disparity?

A difference in health outcomes or access to health resources between population groups.

What makes a health disparity a health inequity?

A health disparity that is systematic, avoidable or remediable, and unfair.

What does health equity mean?

Everyone has a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential; identical health outcomes are not required.

Which population characteristics may be associated with health disparities?

Disparities may be observed by race and ethnicity, income, education, disability, gender, sexual orientation, age, or place of residence.

What aspects of health can show disparities?

They can appear in disease rates, injuries, life expectancy, maternal and infant health, mental health, environmental hazard exposure, and access to timely, high-quality care.

What are social determinants of health?

Social determinants are the conditions in which people are born, grow, learn, work, live, and age, along with the wider forces shaping those conditions.

What are the five social determinant domains?

Economic stability; education access and quality; health care access and quality; neighborhood and built environment; and social and community context.

How can unreliable transportation affect health opportunities?

Unreliable transportation can make it harder to reach work, school, grocery stores, and medical appointments.

What are structural determinants of health?

Laws, policies, institutional practices, economic arrangements, and social norms that shape how power, opportunity, and resources are distributed.

How can discrimination contribute to persistent health inequities?

They can shape daily living conditions and treatment within institutions, helping disadvantages persist across generations and places.

Why should social identity not be treated as a biological cause of poor health?

A person's social identity is not itself a biological cause of poor health; disparities often reflect unequal exposures and resource access shaped by social conditions, institutions, and policy.

What characterizes equitable health services?

Make preventive and primary care accessible, affordable, culturally and linguistically responsive, and high-quality; reduce barriers such as cost, distance, inaccessible facilities, and discriminatory treatment.