Who we are

Equitap is a partnership of research teams based in more than twenty Asia-Pacific territories, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Inspired by the example of ECuity in Europe, Equitap was established in 2001 with technical collaboration from ECuity researchers at Erasmus University (Netherlands), London School of Economics (UK) and University of Macedonia (Greece), and an INCO-DEV grant from the European Commission. With the aim of creating a sustainable platform for high quality, comparative health systems equity research in the Asia-Pacific region, the network has expanded its membership from 10 regional territories to more than twenty, spanning the full geographical range of Asia and the Pacific, and all levels of economic development.

Equitap members comprise either institutions or research groups within institutions, with one institutional member typically representing any territory or country. Equitap institutions are highly diverse, ranging from government health ministries through academic research centres to non-profit think tanks. Yet they share the same commitment to jointly profile, compare and analyze equity in and across their health systems.

Equitap’s name comes from the acronym EQUITAP (Equity in Asia-Pacific Health Systems) that was used in its first funding grant from the European Commission. That funding ended in 2005, but Equitap as a network lives on.