Abstract

Health inequity is prevalent in developing countries and despite of showing success in terms of national averages health attainment in developing countries has not reached up to the mark of desired outcome. Patterns of these inequities can be seen in our country and society in both the directions i.e. horizontal and vertical. Inequity in the domain of health is vital as it is considered as a significant factor for human life and development. Moreover, these inequities in health lead to other inequities prevalent in our society that contributes again in health inequity. Therefore it can be said that inequities in health are the consequences of various factors i.e. Individual factor, social inequities, economical inequities, cultural value and beliefs, environmental conditions, system factors and discriminatory beliefs. In order, to overcome these inequities ‘health equity’ is a perfect approach to address. In this paper a framework for advancing health equity is discussed. In part I of this paper an attempt would be made to understand health inequity and factors that contribute and precipitate. In part II, solutions and recommendations will be proposed and discussed that will be effective for developing health equity in our country. This part will focus two areas i.e. understanding health system governance matrix of Pakistan, its strengths and weaknesses at central and Ministry Of Health policy level; secondly, promotion of public health and human rights in Pakistan.