The Eqity Gauge股权计.docVIP

The Equity Gauge: An Approach to Monitoring Equity in Health and Health Care in Developing Countries Report of a Meeting held in South Africa, August 17th to 20th An Equity Gauge is an approach to promoting equity which includes monitoring of key indicators, coupled with advocacy and community participation to ensure that information is acted upon. In August 2000 about 70 people from twenty countries came together in South Africa for a working meeting. Fourteen “Equity Gauge” projects made presentations, highlighting their main areas of focus, key stakeholder involvement and major activities. The foci of the Gauges represented at the meeting can be broadly grouped as follows: three have a city-wide focus, two an emphasis on community involvement, two an emphasis on resource allocation, and the remaining six are national survey related. A technical advisory team, providing expertise in measurement and data analysis, advocacy, and community participation, offered suggestions as to how the various Gauges could be strengthened. As a result of the discussions which took place during the meeting greater clarity on the essential components of an “Equity Gauge” has been achieved. Planning has now begun on developing a Global Equity Gauge Alliance which will promote equity by, among other things, providing support and technical expertise to current and emerging gauges. Background Global Health Equity Initiative (GHEI) The Global Health Equity Initiative (GHEI), started by a small group of researchers in 1996 has evolved into a network linking over 100 researchers from more than 15 countries who are unified by their concern over growing inequities in health within countries. Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Swedish International Development Authority (Sida), the GHEI took on the following goals: to articulate the concepts and values underlying equity in health; to develop measures and tools for health research and policy to help analyze equity and inequity