Accurate and useful measurement is essential to efforts to improve health equity. There are numerous ways to measure health disparities across different subpopulations. These measures can be divided into two categories: summary (aggregated) and stratified (disaggregated).

 

Summary measures provide an overall picture and can include multiple subpopulations in one measure, while stratified measures provide a more detailed look at particular comparisons between groups. Each has advantages and disadvantages, but both are essential to provide a comprehensive assessment of performance on improving health equity.