Health Equity
Health equity is attainment of the highest level of health for all people. Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and healthcare disparities.

Health Disparity
Health disparity a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial and/or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.

Source: National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity. 2011. The Office of Minority Health and the National Partnership for Action.

Information on health disparities through MedlinePus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health.