Vulnerable groups

How it is used

Common in plans and reports: protect, reach or prioritise vulnerable groups. Many writers now prefer 'groups made vulnerable' or 'underserved populations' to show that vulnerability comes from circumstances, not from the people themselves.

Example sentences

1. The heat health plan prioritises vulnerable groups such as older people living alone.

2. Outreach teams visit vulnerable groups who rarely use health services.

Common collocations

• protect vulnerable groups
• hard-to-reach groups
• underserved populations
• vulnerable populations

Related terms

• health equityThe situation in which everyone has a fair chance to be as healthy as possible, with no avoidable or unfair differences in health between social groups.
• access to healthcareThe ability of people to get the health services they need when they need them, which depends on cost, distance, waiting times, language and whether the services exist at all.
• health inequalitiesDifferences in health, such as life expectancy or disease rates, between groups of people defined by income, area, ethnicity, gender or other social factors.
• social determinants of healthThe conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, such as income, education, housing and employment, which strongly shape their health.

More terms: Social Determinants and Equity

• socioeconomic status
• food insecurity
• social gradient