{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,1]],"date-time":"2026-07-01T16:57:51Z","timestamp":1782925071155,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1763337600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Globally, poverty remains a major obstacle to health parity, compromising well-being. This policy analysis aims to examine how poverty affects health inequities and healthcare access in two contexts: Canada, a high-income nation, and Pakistan, a low-income nation. This study employs a grounded approach, integrating a thorough review of the existing critical literature using systematic thematic analysis and synthesis. In Pakistan, chronic underinvestment, rural\u2013urban gaps, inadequate infrastructure, and political instability exacerbate inequities in access to healthcare. Limited coverage, ineffective administrative processes, and gaps in rural healthcare delivery impede growth despite encouraging programs like the Sehat Card and the Ehsaas Program. Conversely, universal healthcare in Canada has lowered financial obstacles to access, but low-income and Indigenous communities are still impacted by service gaps, particularly in dental care, pharmacare, and mental health. Although child poverty rates have been significantly reduced by programs like the Canada Child Benefit, Indigenous children continue to endure disproportionate health risks. Findings underscore a need for equity-driven changes: Pakistan must expand rural health infrastructure and legislate health equity, while Canada should extend coverage to essential but excluded services. Findings underscore the intersecting nature of inequities driven by poverty, gender, geography, and systemic exclusion that highlight opportunities for cross-context policy learning. Canada\u2019s equity monitoring frameworks could strengthen Pakistan\u2019s health data systems, while Pakistan\u2019s community-based Lady Health Worker program offers scalable grassroots models relevant for marginalized Canadian regions. Both countries must prioritize poverty alleviation as a health intervention, integrating justice, sustainability, and accountability to advance global health equity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph22111735","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]],"date-time":"2025-11-17T14:04:07Z","timestamp":1763388247000},"page":"1735","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["A Comparative Policy Analysis of Health Inequities in Access to Healthcare Across Low- and High-Income Contexts: The Cases of Pakistan and Canada"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-3260-8701","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatima","family":"Durrani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health Sciences and Psychology, Department of Public Health, Canadian University Dubai, Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"The Global Health Network-The Middle East and North Africa Network (TGHN-MENA), Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"family":"Maidah","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Global Health Network-The Middle East and North Africa Network (TGHN-MENA), Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"Army Medical College, National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan"},{"name":"Global Health Department, Health Services Academy, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Faryal","family":"Shaikh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health Sciences and Psychology, Department of Public Health, Canadian University Dubai, Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"The Global Health Network-The Middle East and North Africa Network (TGHN-MENA), Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"College of Medicine, Gulf Medical University, Ajman 4184, United Arab Emirates"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5609-3806","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mohammed","family":"Alkhaldi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Health Sciences and Psychology, Department of Public Health, Canadian University Dubai, Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"The Global Health Network-The Middle East and North Africa Network (TGHN-MENA), Dubai 117781, United Arab Emirates"},{"name":"School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC H3G 1Y5, Canada"},{"name":"Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 7SG, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2025, October 22). 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