Disparities are probably the most important factor that causes ill health in India. People from more disadvantaged communities and who face discrimination in health care, have higher mortality rates and face premature deaths. They have poorer health status, more disease burden, and disabilities. Yet the field of medicine, teaches us very little about how to address inequities in health.

There are various structures in society that cause inequity -socioeconomic, gender, caste, tribes. Health inequalities are due to unequal distribution of power, income, material goods, living conditions and opportunities to education and jobs. People from different communities face discrimination in accessing healthcare. Discrimination not only affects access to healthcare. It has been recently recognised that discrimination can becomes biologically constituted as disease. The concept of embodiment highlights how social factors influence biological processes and affect peoples’ health. Social structures and discriminatory practices can become embodied. Thereby disparities in society can cause ill-health. As physicians we are not trained to understand such social phenomena, nor to alter them.

This conference is to help health professionals to think about health disparities in the contexts that they work in. To understand the theoretical concepts related to equity in health, health disparities, embodiment, structural factors, social determinants, structural violence and barriers to accessing healthcare. What are the clinical models and approaches that we can learn from to address the problem of equity and health disparities? How do we apply these concepts in our clinical practice, education and research?

We hope that the conference would provide a forum for sharing of experiences, discussion, networking and advocacy in relation to equity in health.

Strengthening primary and secondary level health care

The lack of access to comprehensive primary healthcare and secondary level medical care are critical deficiencies in the health system. Undergraduate and postgraduate medical education are also not oriented to primary and secondary level care and equity.

In this conference we will focus on how to provide cost- effective and accessible healthcare for different kinds of problems (stroke care, MI care, cancers, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, sickle cell disease, liver failure, occupational health, alcohol use disorders, snakebite, poisoning). This will be useful for undergraduate and postgraduate medical students. This will be helpful for doctors working at primary and secondary level in government and non -government settings and medical college teachers. Medical college teachers will also be benefited in developing their approaches to teaching with emphasis on primary and secondary level healthcare and equity.