Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Executive summary -- 1. Health inequality monitoring: an overview -- 1.1 What is monitoring? -- 1.2 What is involved in health monitoring? -- Cycle of health monitoring -- Health indicators -- 1.3 What is health inequality monitoring? -- Equity stratifiers -- Measuring equity stratifiers -- 1.4 Why conduct health inequality monitoring? -- 1.5 How can health inequality monitoring lead to implementing change? -- Considerations for agenda setting -- Key stakeholders -- 1.6 How are the social determinants of health related to health inequality monitoring? -- 2. Data sources -- 2.1 Data source types -- 2.2 Population-based data sources -- Censuses -- Vital registration systems -- Household surveys -- 2.3 Institution-based data sources -- 2.4 Strengths and limitations of key data sources -- 2.5 Data source mapping -- 3. Measurement of health inequality -- 3.1 How can health inequalities be measured? -- 3.2 Simple measures of inequality (pairwise comparisons) -- 3.3 Limitations of simple measures of inequality -- 3.4 Complex measures of inequality -- 3.5 Complex measures of inequality in ordered groups -- Slope index of inequality -- Concentration index -- 3.6 Complex measures of inequality in non-ordered groups -- Absolute mean difference from the overall mean -- Weighted absolute mean difference from the overall mean -- Theil index -- 3.7 Population attributable risk -- 4. Reporting health inequalities -- 4.1 Audience-conscious reporting -- 4.2 Methods of presenting data -- Tables -- Graphs -- Maps -- 4.3 Key aspects of health inequality reporting -- Latest status -- Time trend -- Benchmarking -- 4.4 Selecting measures of health inequality to report -- Describing patterns of health inequality using disaggregated data -- Reporting simple or complex measures -- Reporting absolute and relative inequality.

Reporting inequality and national average -- 4.5 Special considerations -- Small sample size -- Reporting multiple dimensions of inequality simultaneously -- 4.6 Reporting time trends -- The four-quadrant view -- Showing time trends across subgroups -- 4.7 Defining priority areas -- 5. Step-by-step health inequality assessment: reproductive, maternal and child health in the Philippines -- 5.1 Selecting relevant health indicators and equity stratifiers -- 5.2 Data source mapping -- 5.3 Data analysis -- 5.4 Reporting inequality -- 5.5 Defining priority areas -- Assessing the situation -- Defining priorities -- Using priority setting to implement change -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Health indicator definitions -- Figures -- Figure 1.1 Cycle of health monitoring -- Figure 1.2 Components of a national health sector monitoring, evaluation and review framework -- Figure 1.3 Example health indicators related to reproductive, maternal and child health, displayed within a monitoring, evaluation and review framework -- Figure 2.1 Data sources for health inequality monitoring -- Figure 3.1 Births attended by skilled health personnel in Ghana, by wealth quintile, DHS 2003 and 2008 -- Figure 3.2 Contraceptive prevalence (modern methods) in the Philippines, by education level, DHS 1993 and 2008 -- Figure 3.3 Proportion of women of reproductive age in the Philippines, by education level, DHS 1993 and 2008 -- Figure 3.4 Slope index of inequality: absolute inequality in smoking prevalence in a population of men living in 27 middle-income countries, World Health Survey 2002-2004 -- Figure 3.5 Relative wealth-based inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in Bangladesh and Egypt, represented using concentration curves, DHS 2007 and 2008.

Figure 3.6 Region-based inequality in DTP3 immunization coverage among 1-year-olds in the Philippines, DHS 2003 and 2008 -- Figure 3.7 Region-based relative inequality in selected reproductive, maternal and child health indicators in Egypt shown using (a) ratio and (b) Theil index, DHS 1995 and 2008 -- Figure 3.8 National average gap in coverage of reproductive, maternal and child health services and within-country wealth-based inequality in coverage gap in 24 low- and middle-income African countries, DHS and MICS 2005-2011 -- Figure 4.1 Contraceptive prevalence (modern methods) in Egypt, by wealth quintile, DHS 1995, 2000 and 2005 -- Figure 4.2 Time trend in measles immunization in Colombia, by place of residence, DHS 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008 -- Figure 4.3 Benchmarking the latest status of births attended by skilled health personnel in Malawi against 22 other low-income African countries, by wealth quintile, DHS 2005-2010 -- Figure 4.4 Benchmarking the latest status of wealth-based absolute inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in Vanuatu against 11 other low- and middle-income Asia-Pacific countries, DHS and MICS 2005-2010 -- Figure 4.5 Benchmarking time trend in under-five mortality rate in Zambia against 12 other middle-income countries, by place of residence, DHS 1996-2000 and 2006-2010 -- Figure 4.6 Patterns of health inequality, shown using coverage of births attended by skilled health personnel in Bangladesh, Gambia, Jordan and Viet Nam, by wealth quintile, DHS and MICS 2005-2007 -- Figure 4.7 Coverage of selected maternal health service indicators in the Philippines, by wealth quintile, DHS 2008 -- Figure 4.8 Wealth-based inequality in stunting among children under five in 70 countries, DHS and MICS 2005-2011.

Figure 4.9 Wealth-based inequality and national average in stunting among children under five in 70 countries, DHS and MICS 2005-2011 -- Figure 4.10 Relative wealth-based inequality and national prevalence in smoking in (a) men and (b) women in 48 low- and middle-income countries, World Health Survey, 2002-2004 -- Figure 4.11 Under-five mortality rate in Nigeria, by place of residence and wealth, DHS 2008 -- Figure 4.12 Four-quadrant view of benchmarking time trends in infant mortality rate in 20 African countries over a five-year period, wealth-based inequality versus national average -- Figure 4.13 Time trends in inequality in subgroups in the case of (a) increasing prevalence and (b) decreasing prevalence of a health indicator, highlighting different scenarios for absolute and relative inequality -- Figure 4.14 Time trends in births attended by skilled health personnel, in (a) Cambodia, (b) Nepal and (c) Cameroon, by wealth quintile, DHS and MICS 1996-2010 -- Figure 5.1 Time trend of selected reproductive, maternal and child health service indicators in the Philippines, by wealth quintile, DHS 1998, 2003 and 2008 -- Figure 5.2 Time trend of (a) antenatal care (at least four visits), (b) antenatal care (at least one visit), (c) family planning needs satisfied and (d) vitamin A supplementation among children under five in the Philippines, by wealth quintile, DHS 1998 -- Figure 5.3 Benchmarking the latest status of wealth-based absolute inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in the Philippines against 11 other low- and middle-income Asia-Pacific countries, DHS and MICS 2005-2010 -- Tables -- Table 2.1 Strengths, limitations and possible areas for improvement of key data sources for health inequality monitoring -- Table 3.1 Area-based inequality in antenatal care (at least four visits) in Colombia, DHS 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010.

Table 3.2 Sex-based inequality in under-five mortality rates in Egypt, DHS 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2008 -- Table 3.3 Wealth-based inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in the Philippines, DHS 1998, 2003 and 2008 -- Table 3.4 Wealth-based inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in Ghana, DHS 2003 and 2008 -- Table 3.5 Education-based inequality in contraceptive prevalence (modern methods) in the Philippines, DHS 1993 and 2008 -- Table 3.6 Arriving at midpoint values of cumulative range based on education subgroups, for a population of men living in 27 middle-income countries and associated smoking prevalence, World Health Survey 2002-2004 -- Table 3.7 Arriving at cumulative fraction values for births and births attended by skilled health personnel using wealth-disaggregated data from Bangladesh and Egypt, DHS 2007 and 2008 -- Table 3.8 Wealth-based relative inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in selected countries, DHS 2006-2010 -- Table 3.9 Education-based inequality in contraceptive prevalence (modern methods) in the Philippines, DHS 1993 and 2008 -- Table 3.10 Region-based inequality in DTP3 immunization coverage among 1-year-olds in the Philippines, DHS 2003 and 2008 -- Table 3.11 Arriving at Theil index values for antenatal care (at least four visits), using region-disaggregated data from Egypt, DHS 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2008 -- Table 3.12 Wealth-based inequality in the coverage gap in family planning needs satisfied in selected African countries, DHS 2000-2008 -- Table 4.1 Wealth-based inequality in contraceptive prevalence (modern methods) in Egypt, DHS 1995, 2000 and 2005 -- Table 4.2 Latest status of wealth-based inequality in selected health service indicators in Rwanda, DHS 2010.

Table 4.3 Wealth-based inequality in births attended by skilled health personnel in low- and middle-income Asia-Pacific countries, DHS and MICS 2005-2010.