Challenge

Health equity is both a major unmet international goal and an area with major gaps in research, teaching, public and private attention and political commitment. Since the publication of the 2008 World Health Organization report, “Closing the Gap in a Generation”, there has been more attention on the set of principles laid out by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health calling on countries to view the health of populations through the lens of “the whole of society”--to frame health policy and programs in consideration of political, social, and economic circumstances in which people live on a daily basis (World Health Organization, 2008). At the foundation of this new global movement are social justice and health equity, and an acknolwledgement that health is a human right.

Our Work

To better understanding the burden and dynamics of health inequity, and the wider dimensions of health, Berkeley has developed a global health equity group (GHEG) which aims to develop research, teaching, and learning in the multidisciplinary field of health equity to influence the health of the more vulnerable populations throughout the world.

2015-2016 Activities:
- Coming soon

2013-2015 Activities:
- Visiting scholars and speakers: Juan Garay & Larry Gostin
- Lunch and evening seminars on health equity topics
- Fellowships for students targeting health equity of vulnerable populations (i.e., health metrics, slum health)
- GHEG development to bring scholars and advocates together to bring forward the global health equity agenda
- Support of new courses, grants and research

For more information:

Dr. Juan Garay, UC Berkeley visiting scholar on health equity (email)
Professor Lee Riley, Professor of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases and head of the Global Health Equity Scholars Program (email)
Dr. Hildy Fong, Executive Director, Center for Global Public Health (email)