4211.0: Tuesday, October 23, 2001: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM

Oral Session

Socioeconomic Determinants and Health Inequalities in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is the Region with the greatest economic inequalities in the world. The Gini index for income inequality is close to 0.50, compared to 0.47 in Sub-Saharan Africa, 0.38 in Eastern Asia and 0.34 in the OECD countries. These economic inequalties are related to social disparities, including access and utilization of health care services, and impact health outcomes, both in terms of levels as well as inequalities. In this panel, the coordinators of four projects promoted or conducted by the Pan American Health Orgainzation, will present results of recent research for 14 countries: - Inequities in health and access to health care services - a multicenter project, including multi level models for health outcomes with context variables capturing social and economic inequalities at the municipal level. - Inequities in access, utilization and expenditure with drinking water -describing inequalities at the household level instead of only for broad areas as tradionally done. - Gender inequities in health reform - with similar types of data sources the work describes and explains some of the gender related disparities in utilization and financing of health care services in the Region. - Ethnical and racial inequities - exploring this dimension, rarely studied in the Region, the work explores if the explanation of disparities is improved by studying the problem with an ethnical approach. Policy implications of the results will be discussed.
See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session participants will be able to identify some of the most important determinants of inequalities in health in Latin America and the Caribbean and the magnitude of these inequalities.
Organizer(s):Juan Antonio Casas, Dr
2:30 PMEthinicity and Health Equity
Cristina Torres
2:42 PMGender, equity and access to health care
Elsa Gomez
2:54 PMInequalities in the access, use and expenditure of drinking water services
Mauricio Pardon
3:06 PMMulti-center project on equity in health, access and utilization of health services
J. Norberto W. Dachs
Sponsor:International Health
Cosponsors:Latino Caucus; Social Work; Socialist Caucus
CE Credits:CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work

The 129th Annual Meeting of APHA