Measuring Health Inequities Among Vulnerable Populations (2nd Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

The WHO defines health inequities as avoidable inequalities in health between groups of people within countries and between countries. These inequities are driven by environmental, social, and economic conditions, which increase the risk of illness, disease, and the inability to prevent them at the individual, household, community, national, and international levels. This culminates in a health continuum, with the poor and nonpoor at extreme ends. Health inequities are rooted in social injustices that result in some population groups being more vulnerable to poor health than others. The ability of health practitioners, academics, researchers, governments, and agencies to quantify health inequities has been found to facilitate estimating prevalence and identifying hotspots, targeting of appropriate resources to vulnerable populations, and developing interventions in bridging health inequities. For example, the HWISE (Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale), a tool for assessing water insecurity across low- and middle-income countries, has enabled assessment of the prevalence of water insecurity, identification of water insecure hotspots, and appropriate targeting of resources to populations that are prone to water insecurity.

This Special Issue calls for studies on the measurement of health inequities among vulnerable populations and developing tools/constructs/indicators that facilitate the study of environmental, global, and public health research targets. It also focuses on best practices, guidelines, strategies, principles, critical analysis, high-quality reviews, and new techniques or technologies that facilitate the assessment or quantification of health inequities in improving population health. For this Special Issue, vulnerable populations include the economically disadvantaged; racial and ethnic minorities; the uninsured; women, children, and infants in low-income countries; the elderly; the homeless; those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and those with chronic health conditions. This collection of articles that measure or present systems for assessing health inequities will be a boon to the field of public health research aimed at bridging health inequity and improving population health.

Dr. Godfred Boateng
Prof. Dr. Torsten B. Neilands
Dr. John Sauceda
Guest Editors

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