Indicators of Equity in Health and its Social Determinants

Achieving universal health is not possible without achieving equity. Equity in health means reducing or eliminating those factors that are the cause of health inequalities. Inequalities that can be avoided, and are actually unfairly distributed among different sections of society. In this article, the most important factors related to equity in health and its related indicators are presented.

This article describes 69 indicators developed in collaboration with related institutions and approved by the honorable office of the President of the Islamic Republic.

Thirty eight of these indicators are related to health, 12 are related to physical environment and infrastructure, 10 are related to social and human development, 4 are related to economic development and 5 are related to proper governance. The most important of these indicators are: poverty, discrimination, lack of jobs, inadequate income, low literacy, illiteracy, inadequate housing and employment, lack of clean and safe environment, lack of efficient affordable services, low professional ethics in the health system, lack of security and food safety, lack of social support and inadequate to proper transportation.

. In assessing equity in health and, more importantly, developing and execution of strategies to reduce or eliminate inequities, it is necessary to define indicators specifically for monitoring and measuring various aspects of health equity in the areas of social, cultural, economic and political determinants in addition to the common measures in the field of health and safety. Such “health equity indicators” must be measured and expressed with regard to common demographic variables (such as gender, place of residence, economic and social groups, etc”) to be an effective tool to reduce or eliminate inequalities. It requires effective participation and close collaboration of people, governmental institutions, and non-governmental organizations.
It is expected that by using these indicators and evaluating their effectiveness, one can begin to reduce  inequalities