Health Disparities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Dear Colleagues,

A Special Issue on Health Disparities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, is being organized. For detailed information on the journal, I refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.

For the current 2021 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of USD 1045 or less in 2020; lower middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between USD 1046 and USD 4095; upper middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita between USD 4096 and USD 12,695. For their part, high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of USD 12,696 or more. Socioeconomic disparities in health and healthcare across and within LMICs are a major global public health issue, as they reflect structural influences of unequal opportunities between individuals and communities to nurture, grow, and flourish throughout the life course. Such social disparities in health and healthcare are pervasive, difficult to modify, and cause significant premature deaths and DALYs in LMICs. Population health in LMICs needs more investigation and action in relation to health disparities. Current data describes, to some extent, our understanding of this matter in some critical health conditions and social groups. In our globalised and changing world, evidence needs to be pushed forward, questioned, and updated in relation to how and why social inequalities affect population health in LMICs. Moreover, we need to disentangle the role of governments, non-governmental organizations, international organizations, among others, in these influences. As we see the world rapidly adapting to new social and health scenarios during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, we also need to re-establish our theories, methodologies, and analytical tools to better reflect and understand how social disparities influence population health, as well as the role of health care systems in the challenging contexts of LMICs.

This Special Issue is open to the subject area of Health Disparities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The keywords listed below provide an outline of some of the possible areas of interest.

Prof. Dr. Báltica Cabieses
Guest Editor

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