SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH – ACCESS, VULNERABILITY, INEQUALTY.

Abstract

The reduction of health inequalities should be a major priority for each state. The primordial objective of health strategies all over the world are the reduction of the gap or inequalities responsible for the significant differences in health status between various regions or populations. In Romania, Government Decision no. 1028 of November 18, 2014 on approving the National health strategy 2014 - 2020 and the Plan of actions for the period 2014 – 2020, for the implementation of the National Strategy, have the purpose of improving the health status of the population and of reducing the inequalities between the counties/ regions of the country. The reduction of health inequalities requires a focused action of the public health policy and of a series of other policies with an impact on health, among which social protection, education and environment. Although important steps were made in the field, special attention must be paid to equity, especially the equity of health services, to promote basic services for all individuals, mainly the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The paper proposes to highlight the determinants of health status, the main types of inequalities and the way they are found and manifested in the Romanian health system.