Addressing Disparities in Health and Healthcare Globally
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Care Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2026 | Viewed by 889
Special Issue Editors
Interests: public health; health inequities; health policy; arts for health and wellbeing; mental health; and older people’s health and wellbeing
Interests: global health inequalities; mental health and wellbeing; maternal and child health; sexual and reproductive health; adolescent health; social determinants of health; sustainable development goals; global public health
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Whilst many are living for longer and, generally, overall health might be improving, health and healthcare disparities remain urgent public health concerns and continue to require rigorous evidence-based scholarly attention. The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected marginalised populations and exacerbated existing health and healthcare disparities, and although research on health and healthcare disparities has been plentiful before and after COVID-19, substantial gaps in the access, quality, and outcomes of health and healthcare persist and are growing for vulnerable and marginalised groups. A complex set of structural inequities, systemic barriers, and social determinants of health continue to mean that there are significantly poorer health outcomes for certain populations.
This Special Issue draws together a range of original research and review contributions reflecting the latest evidence and perspectives on the multifaceted nature of health and healthcare disparities for vulnerable and marginalised communities globally. It includes both the documenting of disparities and proposals for informing solutions to entrenched health and healthcare inequities. We hope this collection of papers will spark dialogue and inspire new lines of research inquiry as contributions to ongoing efforts towards making health and healthcare equity a reality for all.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Structural racism in health and health care;
- Innovations in culturally responsive and/or socially just health care;
- The impact of health policy reforms on vulnerable and marginalised communities;
- Creative approaches for sustained efforts to tackle health disparities and health care inequities for vulnerable and marginalised populations;
- The critical role of vulnerable and marginalised community-based participatory research;
- The importance of intersectionality and how mutually constitutive identities such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and immigration status shape health and access to health care;
- Mental health in vulnerable and marginalised populations;
- Women’s maternal and child health in vulnerable and marginalised populations;
- Addressing health and health care disparities among migrant populations;
- Health and health care disparities in LGBTQIA+ populations;
- Health and health care disparities for vulnerable and marginalised older people;
- Advancing health and health care equity for disabled people.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Toni Wright
Dr. Rajeeb Kumar Sah
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- health disparities
- health inequities
- social determinants of health
- intersectionality
- vulnerable and marginalised populations
- underserved populations
- socially just health and health care
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