Studying Health Inequalities in Colombia: Diverse Perspectives on Their Causes and Next Steps for Action

The historical and global study of health inequalities includes diverse philosophical, conceptual and methodological debates on their causes, how best to study them, and how and where to intervene. However, not all the perspectives in the field are widely recognized or known worldwide; for instance, Latin America's long-standing intellectual tradition on Social Medicine and Collective Health. Also, evidence suggests that not all countries have had the same socio-politics and institutional conditions to enable them to produce this type of research, and a few scholars have called for more in-depth understanding of the health inequalities research field in different global settings. This study aims to assess these issues in Colombia, where the Latin America Social Medicine and Collective Health tradition remains strong, yet the volume of scientific output has not been consistent over time. In total, 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants who have worked on health inequalities in Colombia over the past five decades to understand their perspectives on these issues and the national health inequalities research field. Data was triangulated with gray and scientific literature. The findings provide valuable context-specific empirical insights into the causes of health inequalities in Colombia, the main perspectives used to study them in the country, including the associated tensions around causality, as well as ideas on how to create meaningful change towards building a fairer society.