Inequalities in health and access to health care

Philip Clarke has been undertaking a program of methodological research on issues surrounding the measurement of inequalities in health and access to health care. The primary focus of the work has been in comparisons of the degree of inequality in different populations, and so this research has involved collaboration with overseas researchers primarily from Sweden and Australia. To date the research has examined two issues. Firstly, how relative and absolute measures can produce quite different indications of inequalities in the distribution of health. Secondly, it has examined how inequalities measures can be decomposed (i.e. divided) between population sub-groups. This research has a practical purpose since it facilitates a deeper understanding of the nature of health inequalities. For example, it facilitates exploring the degree to which health inequalities are concentrated in population sub-groups such as the unemployed. Philip's expertise has been recognised though his involvement in a technical working group of an OECD project aimed at measuring equity of access of health care across developed countries.