Abstract

In this article, Davidson Gwatkin of the World Bank, draws on a variety of studies and current professional thinking about health inequalities in developing countries and how to reduce them. The article, which makes up a chapter of a book on public health, is divided into four sections. The first provides a brief history of recent trends in concern about health inequalities. The second is a discussion of the concept of health inequalities, while the third summarizes what is known about the dimensions and magnitudes of such inequalities. The fourth section presents a comparable summary of current thought about how best to reduce inequalities.