Better Health Through Equity

Authors: American Public Health Association

Healthy People 2020, the nation’s health objectives for the current decade, defines health equity as the “attainment of the highest level of health for all people. Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and health care disparities.” Such goals aren’t unfamiliar to public health practitioners. And while the nation has come a long way, it is clear that eliminating disparities cannot be accomplished without seriously addressing the underlying social determinants of health, many of which are shaped and perpetuated by bias, injustice and inequality.

Across the country, state and local public health agencies are taking up this call to action in earnest, integrating a health equity framework at an organizational level and using equity values to drive community health work. The following are five case studies exploring the experience of public health departments as they make a concentrated shift toward achieving health equity.