The health of the world's population is in a state of inequality. That
is to say, there are vastly different stories to tell about a person's
health depending on where they live, their level of education, and
whether they are rich or poor, etc. Monitoring the state of inequality
in health takes into account the current experiences of population
subgroups, as well as the trends of how health experiences in these
subgroups have changed over time.
The report State of Inequality: Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and
Child Health demonstrates best practices in reporting the results of
health inequality monitoring, and introduces innovative ways for
audiences to explore inequality data. Interactive data visualization
components--including story-points, equity country profiles, maps and
reference tables--accompany the key messages and findings of this
report, allowing users to customize data displays and engage in
benchmarking according to their interests.
The report delivers both promising and disappointing messages about the
situation in low- and middle-income countries. On the one hand,
within-country inequalities have narrowed, with a tendency for national
improvements driven by faster improvements in disadvantaged subgroups.
In certain indicators and countries, these improvements have been
substantial. On the other hand, however, inequalities still persist in
most reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health indicators. The
extent of within-country inequality differed by dimension of inequality
and by country, country income group and geographical region. There is
still much progress to be made in reducing inequalities in RMNCH.
