Social health Inequalities

A Theoretical Analysis

Abstract

  Health disparities are responsible for many pathologies within a country and/or between different countries.  They are a major public health issue and must be taken into account in the development of health and development policies and programs.

 This article aims, on the one hand, to provide a synthetic vision of health inequalities and their main determinants and, on the other hand, to present the environmental, socio-economic and political actions to be taken in order to reduce these inequalities. There is a large body of research showing that the reduction of inequalities in health contributes to a reduction in social inequalities and that reducing these disparities requires multidisciplinary measures acting on several dimensions, particularly socio-economic characteristics, risk factors and individual behaviours. Despite the work carried out on the issue of health inequalities, this problem requires more analysis and explanations in order to take action.