Overview of Health Equity
According to the CDC, in order to promote health equity, we must address preventable health disparities and social determinants of health.
Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by populations that have been disadvantaged by their social or economic status, geographic location, and environment.[1] Many populations experience health disparities, including people from some racial and ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities, women, people who are LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, or other), people with limited English proficiency, and other groups.
Across the country, people in some racial and ethnic minority groups experience higher rates of poor health and disease for a range of health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, asthma, heart disease, cancer, and preterm birth, when compared to their White counterparts. For example, the average life expectancy among Black or African American people in the United States is four years lower than that of White people.[2] These disparities sometimes persist even when accounting for other demographic and socioeconomic factors, such as age or income.
Communities can prevent health disparities when community- and faith-based organizations, employers, healthcare systems and providers, public health agencies, and policymakers work together to develop policies, programs, and systems based on a health equity framework and community needs.
Social determinants of health are the conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, play, and worship that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes. Long-standing inequities in six key areas of social determinants of health are interrelated and influence a wide range of health and quality-of-life risks and outcomes. Examining these layered health and social inequities can help us better understand how to promote health equity and improve health outcomes.
What is the difference between Equity and Equality?
In a real-world setting, this visual offers a great comparison of equality vs. equity:
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Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones offers a great overview of "health equity" and "social determinants of health" in this video:
Taking a deeper dive, Dr. Daniel E. Dawes, offers The Allegory of the Orchard to introduce the concept of "political determinants of health" in this video:
At the CHC, Health Equity is how we approach our work within health communications.
- We acknowledge that health inequities exist, and that these are differences in the health status of different groups of people – differences that are unnecessary and avoidable as well as unjust and unfair.
- We actively work to ensure our work isn’t furthering health inequities
- We actively work to acknowledge and challenge health inequities.
Up Next: What does health equity look like at the CHC?
