Reclaiming time as a fundamental determinant of health equity

Health is widely recognized as shaped by social and structural conditions, yet time remains largely absent from dominant public health frameworks. This paper brings together sociological and epidemiological perspectives to argue that time is a fundamental dimension of health that has been insufficiently articulated. Rather than proposing a new determinant, it reframes time as an essential condition through which social inequalities are produced and experienced. In public health research, time is most often treated as a technical parameter, such as duration or life course stage, obscuring how it is socially organised and unequally distributed. Drawing on interdisciplinary scholarship, the present paper highlights two interrelated dimensions of time - availability and intensity - and shows how temporal scarcity, acceleration, and uncertainty are patterned by social position, gender, and economic insecurity. It examines how constrained time shapes everyday possibilities for care, rest, and participation, while ill health and caregiving further restrict control over time, reinforcing cycles of disadvantage. The paper also reflects on how healthcare systems are shaped by standardised clock time, often misaligning with the lived realities of chronic illness and long-term care. By synthesising existing scholarship and making time visible as a condition shaping agency, dignity, and health, this paper seeks to strengthen critical public health debates and encourage greater attention to temporal inequalities in research, policy, and practice.