The abolition of nuclear weapons
Achieving these will make it much easier for our country to eliminate health inequity.
Summary
Effective health promotion programs strive to promote health equity and social justice. Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal rights and opportunities—this includes the right to good health. Health status and healthcare vary among individuals and groups of people within the same community. Differences in health status among groups within a community are most often related to economic status, race and ethnicity, gender, education, disability, geographic location, or sexual orientation.
Health promotion programs and health education practitioners address health inequities through interventions that assure everyone’s opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Racism is named and addressed as are root causes of inequity. The Healthy People framework as well as Health in All Policies: A Guide for State and Local Governments (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. n.d.) are used to address health equity and social justice.
For Practice and Discussion
1 Based on this chapter and on your own experience, how would you define health equity and social justice for a health promotion program? What principles, knowledge, skills, and actions do you want to gain in your work for health equity and social justice?
2 What health equity and social justice issues are relevant to the community in which you live? Reflect on how and why the issues might be of concern for health promotion programs. How do they impact community members’ ability to access safe, affordable programs in a dignified and sustainable way? How do they impact people’s physical, nutritional, cultural, emotional, social, psychological, and spiritual health? What can you do to get involved in your community to address the issues?
3 Start a conversation about health equity within your agency or organization. Health equity is more than one intervention; it’s a lens through which all of your work is viewed. As part of the conversation, how will you achieve fair allocation of community resources and investment in marginalized and under-resourced communities and ensure representation of these groups in decision-making processes?
4 Describe how you would seek partnerships across sectors such as transportation, housing, education, and law enforcement to create conditions that enable all people and communities to attain and sustain good health.
5 What can we as individuals do in our lives to interpret the “isms” (racism, sexism, and ageism) that occur in everyday life? What does it mean for you to be antiracist, anti-sexist, anti-ageist? Focus on actions at the personal level that we encounter with peers and friends in school and community and with our families. Focus on actions with institutional policies and procedures that are barriers to health equity and social justice.
6 Himmelstein and Woolhandler (2017) proposed a health vision for the nation based in social justice as a way to achieve health equity: 21st Century Vision for Progress in the United States. The nine-part vision challenges the status quo. What are the benefits and barriers to achieving their proposed health vision?
| KEY TERMS | |
| Anti-racist | Health equity |
| Health disparities | Health in All Policies |
| Health status | Race |
| Healthcare access | Racism |
| Housing | Root causes |
| Leading Health Indicators | Sexual orientation |
| Poverty | Social justice |
References
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2 Arcaya, M. C., Arcaya, A. L., & Subramanian, S. V. (2015). Inequalities in health: Definitions, concepts, and theories. Global Health Action, 8. https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v8.27106
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5 Braveman, P., Arkin, E., Orleans, T., Proctor, D., & Plough, A. (2017). What Is Health Equity? And What Difference Does a Definition Make? Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2017/05/what-is-health-equity-.html
6 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (n.d). Health in all policies. https://www.cdc.gov/policy/hiap/index.html
7 Cunningham, M. K. (2016). Urban institute. Housing and housing finance. At www.urban.org/urban-wire/reduce-poverty-improving-housing-stability
8 Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2017). Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. (3rd ed.). New York University Press.
9 Destination: HOME. n.d. The 2020–2025 Community Plan to End Homelessness. https://destinationhomesv.org/end-homelessness
10 Din, H. N., McDaniels-Davidson, C., Nodora, J., & Madanat, H. (2019). Profiles of a health information-seeking population and the current digital divide: Cross-sectional analysis of the 2015-2016 California Health Interview Survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(5), e11931. https://doi.org/10.2196/11931
11 District of Columbia Department of Health. (2020). Annual Report and Action Plan. Author. https://dchealth.dc.gov/dchp2020-annual-report-action-plan
12 District of Columbia Department of Health Office of Health Equity. (2019). Health Equity Report for the District of Columbia 2018: The Social & Structural Determinants of Health. Author. https://dchealth.dc.gov/publication/health-equity-report-district-columbia-2018
13 EqualHealth. (n.d.). Campaign Against Racism. www.equalhealth.org/campaign-against-racism
14 Families