EQUIST was designed to be used by several different types of public health stakeholders. Before the tool can be used at sub-national levels, a team of national experts need to adjust the tool and conduct a national equity analysis. These national experts, or country customizers, may comprise of of MOH officials, international development partners and key stakeholders from the private sector, NGOs and academic institutions. The result of their work a clear vision of equity patterns nation-wide, and provide a preliminary understanding and visualization of the causes of these patterns. The national analysis and customization process needs to be repeated every few years as new data become available.
Once the tool has been customized for a given country, it can be used by an unlimited number of individuals or institutions with invested interest in a country. These users could be national or sub-national planners, program managers, prospective partners, members of civil society, researchers, or public health and medical students. They could be interested either in maternal and child health generally in a specific level of the health system (such as hospitals, primary care or community health services), in a particular program (such as reproductive health, HIV/AIDS or immunization), or in a particular region or sub-population (such as the residents of a certain province or wealth quintile).
