INTRODUCTION

Health inequality or, more precisely, health inequity – morally problematic health inequality – has remained an important issue in many countries over the past few decades and recently became increasingly so in the global context (Segall 2009; Wikler and Brock 2007). Epidemiologists and public and population health researchers have documented numerous health inequalities and inequities within and across populations (Harper et al. 2007; James et al. 2007; Smits and Monden 2009; World Health Organization 2000). Over the years, many concerted efforts to reduce health inequities have emerged nationally and internationally, most notably the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Commission on Social Determinants of Health (2008). Among a profusion of academic and policy inquiries of health inequities, one of the most important recent developments is serious philosophical investigation into how to define health inequity. Informed by the literature suggesting the importance of social determinants of health, philosophers no longer consider illness as bad luck but regard the distribution of health as an issue of justice and fairness. Philosophically oriented scholars thus began to provide rich accounts of when health inequalities become of moral concern and why we should be morally concerned about some health inequalities (Daniels 2008; Hausman 2009; Marchand, Wikler and Landesman 1998; Segall 2009). These are important questions to be clear about. Without knowing what exactly we wish to reduce and articulating why we wish to do so, how can we begin the work and ask others to join the force?