Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Volume 10, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
BIOMED CENTRAL LTD
DOI: 10.1186/1476-069X-10-S1-S7
Keywords
-
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This paper provides a synthesis on socioeconomic inequalities in cancer incidence, mortality and survival across countries and within countries, with particular focus on the Italian context; the paper also describes the underlying mechanisms documented for cancer incidence, and reports some remarks on policies to tackle inequalities. From a worldwide perspective, the burden of cancer appears to be particularly increasing in developing countries, where many cancers with a poor prognosis (liver, stomach and oesophagus) are much more common than in richer countries. As in the case of incidence and mortality, also in cancer survival we observe a great variability across countries. Different studies have suggested a possible impact of health care on the social gradients in cancer survival, even in countries with a National Health System providing equitable access to care. In developed countries, there is increasing awareness of social inequalities as an important public health issue; as a consequence, there is a variety of strategies and policies being implemented throughout Europe. However, recent reviews emphasize that present knowledge on effectiveness of policies and interventions on health inequalities is not sufficient to offer a robust and evidence-based guide to the choice and design of interventions, and that more evaluation studies are needed. The large disparities in health that we can measure within and between countries represent a challenge to the world; social health inequalities are avoidable, and their reduction therefore represents an achievable goal and an ethical imperative.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available