Is death the great leveller of inequality? Or are we unequal in death as well? This question forms the centre of the article in APACHE Magazine about INEQKILL’s research into the mechanisms that cause inequalities in mortality.
In the article our researchers Sylvie Gadeyne, Isabelle Devos and Thierry Eggerickx explain that social inequalities in mortality in Belgium have increased since at least the early 1990s. Life expectancy increased for all social groups, but faster for the most advantaged. Those social differences in mortality are visible for most causes of death, at all ages, and for both men and women and are caused by a diverse range of cultural and behavioural factors such as living conditions and socio-economic status.
INEQKILL’s hypothesis, however, is that social inequalities in mortality for certain conditions sometimes change over time. We assume that each disease goes through different phases causing death in different groups. This is why INEQKILL focuses on specific causes of death over a very long period. Only when we understand how the specific mechanisms for inequality in mortality work, can we effectively tackle them.
Article:
Debackere, Ellen. “Tot de dood ons onderscheidt”, in Apache Magazine 4 (2023), pp. 36-40
Read all about it on the APACHE website!
