South Africa, like other low-and-middle-income-countries, continues to experience stark health inequities. One of the reasons for this is power imbalances between the global north and south, which have systematically marginalised African people and places, and excluded community voices in co-developing policies and programmes that affect their health.
Social, structural and other “determinants” of health are the conditions in which people work and live, but which individuals and communities have limited power to change. These determinants profoundly shape health and health inequities. They include economics, education, employment, housing, environmental conditions and exposures, food security, social inclusion, and policies and systems governing health facilities and programmes.
Researchers and students are invited to submit to this subtheme abstracts presenting research that:
- Amplifies community voices, especially those of vulnerable and marginalised groups.
- Reveals health inequalities, such as those related to environmental and occupational exposures, access to preventive and curative health services, and socio-economic factors (e.g. gender, poverty, race).
- Highlights inequities in the distribution of resources and opportunities to support health, and how these influence health outcomes and equity.
- Examines the role of foreign aid, the commercial sector, and other entities in health financing, and strategies for improving health equity.
- Explores how public health can promote equity and rights, and overcome neoliberal ideology and other barriers to universal health coverage and equitable health outcomes.
- Shows how evidence-based policies, tailored to African needs and expertise, might improve health equity and rights.
N.B. Co-leads: Trust Gangaidzo, Nicola Christofides, and Denny Mabetha
