what is the difference between health disparities and health inequities?

 

Aspect	Health Disparities	Health Inequities
Definition	Differences in health outcomes or access to	Systematic and unfair differences in
	healthcare services among different	health outcomes or access to healthcare
	populations, often based on social,	services that are avoidable, unjust, and
	economic, or demographic factors.	related to social injustices.
Causes	Can result from various factors, including	Primarily arise from structural, systemic,
	genetics, lifestyle choices, and healthcare	or policy-related factors that create and
	access.	perpetuate disparities.
Nature	May be unavoidable and related to	Are avoidable and result from systemic
	inherent differences in populations, such	biases, discrimination, and unequal
	as age or genetics.	distribution of resources and
		opportunities.
Examples	Differences in cancer rates among racial	Lower life expectancy, limited access to
	groups, due to genetic factors, represent	quality healthcare, and higher rates of
	health disparities.	chronic diseases among marginalized
		communities are examples of health
		inequities.
Addressing	Efforts may focus on reducing disparities	Requires addressing root causes such as
	through targeted healthcare interventions	systemic discrimination, unequal access
	and education.	to resources, and social determinants of
		health to achieve equity.
Goal	Reducing differences in health outcomes	Achieving fairness and justice in
	among populations.	healthcare and health outcomes for all.