ethics in healthcare

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Ethics in Healthcare
The World Health Organization defines health inequities as systematic discrepancies in the health status of different individuals. It is imperative that these inequities are dealt with as they incur substantial economic and social costs to the population and community at large. Examples of health inequities are those based on age, disability status, gender, geographic location, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity (Weinstein, et al. 57). The paper discusses, in brief, ethics in healthcare by analyzing and discussing health inequities.
Benjamin notes that health equity is synonymous with social justice. The author describes social justice as impartiality in the distribution of opportunities, privileges and wealth in the society (1). Similarly, Braveman et al. acknowledge that to ensure health equity, there has to be racial and ethical justice (S153).
Public health has been associated with utilitarianism as it focuses on collective health. Nevertheless, equity is not synonymous with equality. Health equity focuses on uniform access to high quality health care. From this perspective, the argument is that individuals should access what is enough for them. This thought introduces the ethics of sufficientarianism. This school of thought emphasizes on distributive justice, advocating that individuals get what is sufficient for them as needs differCITATION Gos11 l 2057 (Gosseries). In this regard, it is somewhat unfair for all age groups to have equal access to healthcare.

For instance, infants and senior citizens may require specialized and prioritized attention as a result of their delicate immune systems.In conclusion, it is imperative that health inequities are tackled. The paper has provided a brief discussion on the ethics of this matter. There are several ways this issue could be addressed. For instance, improving health literacy among the population would help in achieving health equity. Additionally, a multidisciplinary approach on the part of healthcare providers will help achieve health equity.

Works Cited
Benjamin, Georges. C. Health Equity and Social Justice: A Health Improvement Tool. 2015, pp. 1-2.
 Braveman, Paula A. et al. “Health Disparities And Health Equity: The Issue Is Justice.”American Journal Of Public Health, vol. 101, no. S1, 2011, pp. S149-S155. American Public Health Association, doi:10.2105/ajph.2010.300062.
Gosseries, Axel. “Sufficientarianism.” 2018, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/sufficientarianism/v-1. Weinstein, James N et al. Communities In Action. Washington, DC, The National Academic Press, 2017.
World Health Organization. “10 Facts On Health Inequities And Their Causes.” World Health Organization, 2017, http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/health_inequities/en/.