Health and Poverty

It feels as though the field of health equity has finally come into its time. Conversations about the presence of health disparities have evolved into discussions of how to eliminate them, which have in turn evolved into a broader movement to truly achieve equity in health predictors, statuses, and outcomes. The field of health equity is at its core a branch of social justice, and the movement has clearly begun. The road is long, however, and the issues that drive the underlying presence of health disparities remain firmly in place. The field also remains very new, particularly in investigating the unique health and healthcare needs of groups that are not only marginalized in society, but also largely neglected in the scientific literature

Health disparities research is a multi-faceted field that includes basic biological, clinical, social and behavioral sciences with the goal of identifying, understanding, preventing, diagnosing and treating or intervening on diseases, disorders and other conditions that are unique to, or more prevalent in racial and ethnic minority populations, socially disadvantaged communities (e.g. low education, low income) and rural communities. In the past decade, there has been growing interest in understanding and addressing disparities in health and outcomes that persist among various population subgroups. Addressing health disparities is of increasing importance nationally and globally. This has resulted in various efforts focused on promoting action to reduce and eventually eliminate avoidable inequalities, by addressing social, historical and contemporary injustices. This textbook will serve as the primary source of new knowledge on clinical and translational health disparities science. The overall purpose is to provide a comprehensive and cohesive framework on the principles and applications of health disparities research, which requires an interdisciplinary approach and inclusion of the community in a participatory manner