5 Takeaways for Practitioners to Promote Health Equity

Health equity efforts led by health impact assessment (HIA) and Health in All Policies (HiAP) professionals are helping to address health disparities by targeting social determinants of health (SDoH). Last month, a group of practitioners and other professionals working with the Health Impact Project met and discussed challenges and advancements in the field. A new Pew Trust article covers 5 key takeaways, beginning with the point that practitioners need to address systemic racism as a key SDoH.

According to Ruth Lindberg, “The public and policymakers are increasingly aware of the wide inequities in health outcomes by race and ethnicity. Those working in the HIA and HiAP realms should link their focus on health equity with broader efforts to reduce racism and other systemic factors that negatively affect the health of people of color. Hundreds of cities, counties, and states have declared racism a public health crisis, recognizing how structural disadvantages in areas such as housing, education, and employment have driven inequities in disease and mortality by race and ethnicity. Yet not all regions of the country—including some with deeply rooted racial inequities—acknowledge the impact systemic racism has had on health outcomes.”

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(Source: Pew, January 24^th, 2023)