Understanding what conditions must be satisfied for a health inequality to be a health inequity (disparity) is crucial for health policy makers. The failure to understand what constitutes a health inequity, and confusing health inequalities with health inequities threatens the successful creation of health policies by diverting needed attention and resources away from addressing health inequalities that are health inequities. More generally, the failure threatens to undercut our ability to tell what research is relevant to the creation of health ...