Call for papers

International Seminar on Health Inequity: Current Knowledge and New Measurement Approaches
Organized by the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Health Equity and Policy in the Arab World
the Social Research Center of the American University in Cairo,
and the WHO East Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO)
Cairo, Egypt, 16-18 February 2008

Recently, increased concerns for health equity and disparities in health status between and within countries have been a focal point of investigations and interventions. Investigations have revealed that although many countries around the world have achieved unprecedented and remarkable gains in health status, health disparities among different social groups within these countries appear to be pervasive, with the lowest and most disadvantaged groups being afflicted with the lowest opportunities for good health. Most of these investigations have called for an understanding of the nature and the magnitude of these health disparities as well as more comprehensive and intersectoral approaches to developing future health policies.

The emerging literature on health inequities has unveiled the complex problems of measuring health inequities and health distributions among social groups. This literature has identified five major critical theoretical and technical issues in measuring health inequities. These are: 1) Measurement of health status, 2) Identification of the social groupings of population for measuring health inequity, 3) Choice between relative versus absolute measurement of health, 4) Identification of the standard against which health differences are measured and 5) the weights of ill health of population groups along the ill health distribution. Debates surrounding these issues have stimulated significant new contributions in the development of various analytical strategies in measuring and quantifying health inequity.
This seminar will bring together researchers and practitioners from different regions of the world to analyze, measure and investigate issues of health inequity, their causes, patterns and trends with particular emphasis on the Arab countries. It will also identify gaps in the current knowledge base and future research directions. The seminar will attempt to:
• initiate and facilitate dialogue and collaboration among researchers and practitioners in the area of health inequity;
• expand the knowledge base on causes and consequences of health inequities;
• develop and evaluate new approaches and methodologies in the area of health inequities.

The IUSSP Scientific Panel on Health Equity and Policy in the Arab World invites researchers in the field to submit online a semi-completed or completed papers, which must be unpublished, and personal information by 31 October 2007 Applicants will be notified whether their paper has been accepted by 15 November 2007.
If the paper is co-authored, submission should be made by the author who would attend the seminar.
The working language at the seminar will be English, with simultaneous translation into Arabic. Papers may be submitted in English or Arabic. Please download the template posted on the submission page and read carefully the guidelines for authors of communications.

In addition to dissemination through posting on the IUSSP website, seminar organizers will explore possibilities for publishing the papers, after the seminar.
Current funding for the seminar is very limited; efforts are under way to raise additional funds, but the outcome is at this point uncertain. Participants are therefore encouraged to seek their own funding to cover the cost of their participation in the seminar. Those who are applying for financial assistance from the IUSSP should indicate their need when they submit by ticking the appropriate box on the on-line submission form when submitting paper.
For further information, please contact Amr el Sayed (hlthineq@aucegypt.edu) or Zeinab Khadr (zeinabk@aucegypt.edu).