Health care equity means that health systems should provide equal access to good quality care according to equal need. However, disparities in access to and quality of health services are consistent and systematic. The political determinants of health (PDOH) framework asserts that power and politics create structural barriers to health care equity and that health care inequities are intertwined with continuous struggles for power among competing interests. This research project is a theoretically grounded investigation on the political determinants of health. Drawing on a mixed methodology of policy analysis, ethnography, and register data analysis, we explore how power and politics shape health care equity at multiple levels of the health system in a context of a unique large-scale health system reform in Finland. As a result of the study, we will propose actionable solutions to promote health care equity.

2023

2027