Equity in Health and Health Financing: Building and Strengthening Developing Country Networks
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Summary
Equity in health is a pressing global concern. Disparities in health status and access to health care within and across countries are both a cause and a consequence of social inequality.Read more
Equity in health is a pressing global concern. Disparities in health status and access to health care within and across countries are both a cause and a consequence of social inequality. Access to health services continues to be largely determined by socioeconomic factors, and financial protection against catastrophic health costs remains inadequate. It is crucial to find evidence-based, and locally-produced and owned solutions, to address the issue of equity in health. Three IDRC-sponsored regional networks are separately investigating inequities in health, health financing and health delivery. The networks are: Strategies for Health Insurance for Equity in Less Developed Countries - SHIELD (103457), Equity in Asia-Pacific Health Systems - EQUITAP (105231), and the Latin American Research Network on Financial Protection (LANET), for Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, respectively. This grant will allow the three networks to cooperate through a series of opportunities for capacity building, exchange, and cross-regional comparative and collaborative work. Such work is expected to enhance the evidence base and dissemination of research results for informed policy design.