health equity as a sensitive indicator of social cohesion

Health equity is both a major unmet international goal and an area with major gaps in research, teaching, public and private attention and  political commitment.

Sixty eight years old WHO constitutional objective commits the international community to best feasible health for all. Health was then defined as physician, psychological and social well-being. Such commitment remains un targeted and hence lacks monitoring and accountability. Preliminary work -see rticles list- indicates that health disparities remain stagnant for the last twenty years. 

When attempting to propose best feasible levels of health (yet limited to measures of physical wellbeing the burden of health inequity points at some  annual twenty million deaths  and one third of them all and also of the global burden of disease.  Narrowing health disparities to the feasible equity thresholds (fair inequality) would improve health at a far greater magnitude than the necessary efforts on health research, targeted disease control or eradication interventions or progress towards universal coverage of health services. Such quest requires transcending the traditional health boundaries, and even the social sectors which mitigate the inequalities in rights, resources and knowledge that structure health disparities and often stretch them beyond equitable (fair) levels.

On the other side, besides the neglect to target, monitor and comply with health equity, health is only measured in its physical dimension. The psychological dimension is weakly assessed and often restricted to its extreme deficit when mental health problems arise. Far less we all look at the social dimension of health. The latter links the individual benefits of enjoying social wellbeing with another dimension of health hardly explored nor measured till now : our individual or collective impact in the health of others at present or to come ( future generations).  Besides rescuing the psychological and social dimensions of health, this discussion group aims at introducing the concepts of equity and sustainability of the health we enjoy.

By better understanding the burden and dynamics of health inequity, and the wider dimensions of health, this group aims at influencing local, national and global policies towards greater health equity.