Health Disparities

This Resources in Health Disparities guide is designed to serve as a starting point for locating information on relevant resources pertaining to research done on health disparities. Print items listed with call numbers are located in the reference collection of the Biomedical Library unless otherwise indicated. Please ask at the reference desk if you are unable to find any material.

Research assistance for health disparities is available at the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library. See Reference and Research Help for complete reference service options.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "[h]ealth inequities are avoidable inequalities in health between groups of people within countries and between countries. These inequities arise from inequalities within and between societies. Social and economic conditions and their effects on people’s lives determine their risk of illness and the actions taken to prevent them becoming ill or treat illness when it occurs." 

There are a variety of factors that contribute to these inequalities. Some of the terminology used to describe these include (but are not limited to):

• social determinants of health
• socioeconomic factors
• sociopolitical factors
• social gradient of health

Source: Social determinants of health. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/key_concepts/en/