Equidad en salud y atención de salud

Abstract

A meeting organized by PAHO (October 1999) dealt with the inequalities in levels of health and health care that exist within countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. These inequalities are related to: income distribution; types, place and quality of care; age and sex of users; categories of financial intermediaries; the level of national income; health policies, and personal preferences. The health status indicators utilized may influence the results obtained. The author presents a conceptual framework that structures some of the relationships found. This highlights the successive instances of opportunities for redistribution of the national product and the role of social organization, as well as the need to take into account the place that each county occupies in the global system. This framework may be useful in guiding new research that might help in formulatin* policy recommendations on the subject.