THE CONCEPT OF EQUITY IN HEALTH-SERVICES RESEARCH

A population approach and the general right to health and medical care have been important issues in the development of health policy over m any centuries. However, equity is still a crucial issue in the plannin g and evaluation of health care. Many definitions and criteria related to equity have been formulated on the basis of conflicting theories a nd models. Three dimensions of fair and just resource allocation are e ssential when needs-based models are used: equity in access, utilizati on, and quality of care relative to needs. Health services research sh ould concentrate on such outcome measures regarding equity and the eff ect of organizational and processual characteristics of health care sy stems. Prominent examples of such research efforts are presented, but, unfortunately, there are few reliable and systematic data from this k ind of study. Health care researchers have a special responsibility to wards the population at large to undertake qualified research on equit y and to communicate the results to the general public.