Quiz: What Do You Know About Health Equity?

People in every country experience inequity, and the gaps can be wide and severe. In London’s underground system, for example, each stop traveling east from Westminster represents a drop of nearly a year in life expectancy. In the U.S., Black Americans represent 12% of the population but bear the burden of 39% of all new HIV infections, while people living in the Navajo Nation were three times more likely to contract COVID-19 at the peak of the pandemic — a third of whom do not have a toilet or running water.

Health inequities affect every country on earth, and the major contributor is poverty. Worldwide, children in the poorest 20% of households are four times more likely to experience severe mental health problems than those in the highest 20%.

Though the life expectancy gap between Black and white Americans has closed by nearly 50% over the past three decades, Black Americans can still expect to live 3.5 fewer years than white Americans: 75 years versus 79 years on average.

The difference isn’t biological or genetic — it’s because of deeply rooted social and economic inequities that have deprived Black families of the education, employment, housing, and support that influence one’s long-term health.

The rate has gotten marginally worse since 1968, and Black babies are roughly twice as likely to die as white babies.

Such stark racial disparities in infant (and maternal) mortality are a reflection of systemic injustices that deny Black women the same quality care as white women. Closing the gap will mean the difference between life and death for thousands of mothers and babies in the U.S. each year.

In recognition of the inequity, the White House issued its first-ever presidential proclamation on marking Black Maternal Health Week in 2021 and announced initial actions to address this gap. The actions include increased investments to reduce maternal mortality, as well as implicit bias training for health care workers and additional funds for maternal obstetrics care in rural communities.

Health insurance is just one of many determinants of good health. But the most important factor is your zip code — the place where you live.

Housing, location, education, and public services are among the top factors shaping the trajectory of one’s health — and most of these circumstances are an outcome of an important common denominator: level of income.

In many cases, wealth is health. Low income can have a domino effect on health. Poorer families have a harder time accessing necessities, like good housing and healthy food, and less control over the health threats they face.

Women in the richest 20% of the global population are up to 20 times more likely to have quality care available during childbirth.

This means greater chances for survival and better odds for long-term health — for both mother and baby. Almost all maternal deaths occur in under-resourced countries, where adequate health care is often unaffordable, if not inaccessible. Closing this gap could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

NCDs account for the majority of global deaths every year, and 73% of all NCD deaths are in low- and middle-income countries.

People living in lower-income countries are not only more likely to be exposed to harmful health threats, such as tobacco, air pollution, or unhealthy dietary practices — they also have more limited access to treatment and care needed to manage the diseases or conditions that develop as a result.