Health Equity & Health Justice
The World Health Organization defines health as “A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity".
Health starts beyond the doors of the clinic and inequities in health do as well. Equity means addressing the structural and systemic inequalities that create disparities in health, it means not only insuring access to care for all, but fighting for social, economic and environmental justice.
Health Equity Webinar Series
Ensuring a Voice at the Table for All
Health equity is the right of all members of society to achieve the best possible health and to not have their health negatively affected by avoidable, unfair, and unjust policies or conditions within the system in which they live. However, not everyone has a voice at the table - especially underrepresented groups who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or who have been victims of historical injustices. Inequitable distribution of or access to social, economic, and health resources can affect a groups’ attitude, behavior and health outcomes. Register your chapter each month to participate in a national discussion on health equity relevant topics with a national expert in the field!
Too often as health professions students, we have a myopic view of our place in the health care system and we focus primarily on issues that have to do with our medical education and individual patient care. Learn how to be a patient advocate and how to enact positive change at the community or population level to have both a far-reaching and long-lasting impact on health outcomes. This discussion webinar series was initiated to widen the scope of our vision to include social determinants of health and health inequities in our view of patient health influences. This webinar series is an opportunity to provide student leaders with the education and tools to bring about health equity change in their local communities!
Past Webinars
November 17th at 9 pm EST
Don't Get Sick After June: A Look at the Underfunding of Healthcare in American Indian Communities, On and Off Reservation
Shannon Fleg and Roxane Spruce-Bly from the Native Health Initiative (New Mexico)
Read this article before the webinar.
October 25, 2010: Racism & Its Effects on SDoH
Dr. Camara Jones MD, MPH, PhD
How does racism affect social determinants of health and our individual health as well as the health of our nation? What are 3 different levels of racism that affect health?
Dr. Camara Jones, a family physician and epidemiologist and the Research Director on Social Determinants of Health and Equity in the Division of Adult and Community Health at the CDC, who was featured in the Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick? documentary will discuss the impact of racism on health. She will also discuss 3 levels of racism that affect health: institutionalized, personally mediated, and internalized through her allegory of the Gardener's Tale. She seeks to broaden the national health debate to include not only universal access to high quality health care, but also attention to the social determinants of health (including poverty) and the social determinants of equity (including racism).
Reading List and Resources
September 13, 2010: Advocating for Social and Health Justice
Dr. Adewale Troutman, a passionate and influential leader in the health equity movement
Reading List and Resources
Interested in learning more about and impacting the root and "upstream" causes of health disparities and inequities? HEWA sheds light on and provides ways for chapters to get involved in a national action week on issues important to addressing health inequities in our communities.
The Health Equity Scholars Program (HESP) seeks to equip students with a systems-oriented approach to health inequalities and injustices in the United States and abroad. The program is based on the principle that many health inequalities are not merely inevitable; they are avoidable, unjust, and something can and should be done about them. Along with building an argument for this perspective, the Program will provide Scholars with practical skills and tools to educate their peers and organize initiatives to address health disparities in their communities.
Take 5 Policy Video Blog
This video blog of bi-weekly 5 minute talks on pertinent health policy and health disparities issues, monthly speaker interviews, and periodic up-to-the-minute alerts will help students achieve a baseline level of knowledge about health policy, advocacy, and lobbying. It will also equip them with the necessary tools to take action to enact health policy change especially around the issues of health disparities and health equity. Please contact Badewa Fatunde at reach.policy@amsa.org with any questions or if you would like to join the Take 5 student Vblog team.