Health Inequities, Societies and Systems

Addressing health inequities is crucial for promoting human rights, social justice, and population health. Everyone, regardless of their background, should have access to the opportunity for a healthy life. Beyond improving individual health, tackling health inequities supports broader global development goals by fostering sustainable development and economic stability. It promotes global solidarity by uniting countries in the shared challenge of achieving health equity. Ultimately, reducing health inequalities creates more resilient and inclusive healthcare systems, empowering communities and individuals to better manage their health and contribute to societal progress. This global effort is integral in creating a fairer, healthier, and more sustainable world for everyone.

At King’s we bring together inter-disciplinary researchers and multi-sectoral partnerships to understand and address health inequities through a systems approach. Our work explores the systematic and intersecting drivers of inequities in health over the life course such as racism, gender, crime, precarious livelihoods, environmental pollution, and inaccessible health care, and identify effective ways to address these inequalities. Our research actively involves our community, policy and practice partners in the co-development and evaluation of policies and programmes that interact with dynamic social and health systems. Mixed methodologies underpin our research, including large quantitative datasets qualitative methods such as ethnographic observation, and participatory and creative art-based approaches such as storytelling, photovoice and digital diaries.