International journal for equity in health
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Int J Equity Health · Dec 2016
EditorialResearch on health equity in the SDG era: the urgent need for greater focus on implementation.
The tremendous increase in knowledge on inequities in health and their drivers in recent decades has not been matched by improvements in health inequities themselves, or by systematic evidence of what works to reduce health inequities. Within health equity research there is a skew towards diagnostic studies in comparison to intervention studies showing evidence of how interventions can reduce disparities. ⋯ The case for action on social determinants and health inequities has well and truly been made. The community of researchers on health equity now need to turn their attention to supporting implementation efforts towards achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals and substantive reductions in health inequities.
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Int J Equity Health · Jan 2014
EditorialThe financial crisis, health and health inequities in Europe: the need for regulations, redistribution and social protection.
In 2009, Europe was hit by one of the worst debt crises in history. Although the Eurozone crisis is often depicted as an effect of government mismanagement and corruption, it was a consequence of the 2008 U. S. banking crisis which was caused by more than three decades of neoliberal policies, financial deregulation and widening economic inequities. ⋯ These reforms have not only exacerbated the debt crisis and widened inequities in wealth but also failed to address the root causes of the crisis. In order to prevent a future financial downturn and promote a more equitable and sustainable society, European governments and international institutions need to adopt new regulations of banking and finance as well as policies of economic redistribution and investment in social protection. These policy changes, however, require the abandonment of the neoliberal ideology to craft a new global political economy where markets and gross domestic product (GDP) are no longer the main national policy goals, but just means to human and health improvements.