Assessing the economic consequences of health inequities

Studies indicate that health inequities have important economic implications.

• They can lead to high health care costs and significant losses to welfare, productivity, growth and development irrespective of the prevailing economic conditions.
• Investment in programmes to reduce health inequities can have important economic benefits.
• These costs and benefits are vulnerable to changes in the financial markets, trade agreements and other influences of globalization and commercialization of health services (GKN 2008; Lancet 2009).

A wealth of methodological tools and evidence is now available to assess the overall economic consequences of ill-health, and of the estimated economic gains of improved health – both at the level of the national economy and at the individual and household level. (Suhrcke et al. 2005)