Health disparities research in global perspective: new insights and new directions

Abstract

This commentary introduces this volume's symposium on "Comparative Approaches to Reducing Health Disparities." Disparities in the health of socially and economically disadvantaged compared with more advantaged populations are observed worldwide. The lack of progress in addressing these disparities compels a continuing search for new ideas and evidence about potential solutions as well as efforts to understand when and where these solutions work and how they work. The symposium consists of five in-depth reviews led by established scholars who approach the topic from their different disciplinary and topical perspectives. Taken together, these reviews point out the conceptual and methodological opportunities for generating more effective disparities research within biomedical, public health, and health services approaches, the value of also applying theory and methods from disciplines such as political science and economics to health disparities research, and insights to be gained from comparisons of how disparities occur and are remedied in different societies.