Answer to Question #261245 in Sociology for Pilisiwe

Question

Describe what the notion of health inequality entails.

Answer 1

Health inequalities are the logical, preventable and one-sided differences in health outcomes that can be observed between populations, between social groups within the same population or as a gradient across a population ranked by social position.

Like health, health inequalities have been defined in many different ways. At the outset, it is important to recognize a particular continental difference in the lexicon. In the Americas, it is common to use health inequalities to refer to variations or differences between groups that are not necessarily unfair, such as might be the case if elderly people are more likely to die than young adults.

Health skills can differ widely between different individuals and groups. Much of the difference in health outcomes between individuals is due to chance. Nonetheless, the scientifically different outcomes for groups that share common characteristics and the changes over time in the health of populations are both the substrate for public health research by facilitating the research into why some people experience different health outcomes that others and the purpose of public health action to improve the health and health inequality outcomes.