Promotion of physical activity and public policies to tackle inequalities: Considerarions based on the Inverse Care Law and Inverse Equity Hypothesis

Abstract

This Essay reflects on some current approaches to the promotion of physical activity, proposing greater visibility for leisure-time physical activities and inequalities in access to them. The current scenario of increasing inequalities and the importance of confronting them, highlighting the pertinence of public policies, is presented and discussed in light of two theories, the Inverse Equity Hypothesis and the Inverse Care Law. The Inverse Equity Hypothesis seeks to understand how inequalities tend to be established in health indicators, based on an expected increase in inequalities when health innovations initially reach the more socially and economically privileged groups. Meanwhile, the Inverse Care Law emphasizes that the availability of adequate healthcare tends to vary inversely to the population's need. By relating the theories and the promotion of leisure-time physical activity, the essay defends the expansion of public policies aimed at not further increasing inequalities. Public policies and their association with Brazilian Unified National Health System (SUS) and its principles should be the priority. The essay thus defends approaches to promote socially contextualized leisure-time physical activities, capable of prioritizing the groups that need them the most.