Improving the health of the world’s poorest people

This bulletin, produced by the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), highlights the poor-rich health divide that leaves more than 1 billion people worldwide excluded from both essential basic care and the benefits of advances in health and medical technology because of their extreme poverty. Key factors that contribute to these persistent health inequalities include lack of responsiveness by health systems to the needs of the poor; low quality of care; and the reality that public spending on health (justified on equity grounds) benefits non-poor groups more than the poor. In addition, few countries have taken measures to track progress in reducing socioeconomic disparities in health.

Recommendations for addressing these inequalities include:

• shifting the focus of public health from the majority to meet the specific needs of poor and vulnerable groups
• focusing on the preventable and treatable diseases which most affect poorer people; adopting a comprehensive pro-poor approach to policy
• in the long term, influencing the many social and economic determinants of health disparities by improving access to vital services and opportunities, and by reducing discrimination and isolation.

[adapted from author]