title: Equity of access to health care: outlining the foundations for action.
abstract: The Ministers of Health from Chile, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Slovenia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom recently established The International Forum on Common Access to Health Care Services, based on a common belief that their citizens should enjoy universal and equitable access to good quality health care. The ministers intend to form a network to share thinking and evidence on health care improvements, with the specific aim of sustaining and promoting equitable access to health care. Despite a vast literature on the notion of equity of access, little agreement has been reached in the literature on exactly what this notion ought to mean. This article provides a brief description of the relevance of the access principle of equity, and summarises the research programme that is necessary for turning the principle into a useful, operational policy objective.
authors.affiliation: London School of Economics, London, UK. a.j.oliver@lse.ac.uk
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.forename: Elias
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mossialos
mesh_terms: D005006:Ethnicity; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000458:organization & administration; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007391:International Cooperation; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012935:Social Justice / Q000592:standards; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors