Definitions
Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be healthier. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination, and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay, quality education and housing, safe environments, and health care.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2017). What is health equity? Retrieved from https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2017/05/what-is-health-equity-.html
From the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, here is an 8-part video series exploring heath equity with Dr. David R. Williams, PhD, MPH.
Part 1: What is Health Equity and Why Does It Matter?
Part 2: Why Haven't We Made More Progress on Health Equity?
Part 3: Does Racism Play a Role in Health Inequities?
Part 4: How Can Providers Reduce Unconscious Bias?
Part 5: How Can Health Care Promote Health Equity?
Part 6: What One Thing Would You Do to Create Health Equity?
Institute of Medicine Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, Smedley B.D., Stith A.Y., & Nelson AR (2003). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington (DC): National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK220358/
Aysola J. & Myers, J.S. (2017). Integrating training in quality improvement and health equity in graduate medical education: Two curricula for the price of one. Academy of Medicine. [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002021. PMID: 29023244.
Marshall, J.K., Cooper, L.A., Green, A.R., Bertram, A., Wright, L., Matusko, N., & McCullough, W. (2017). Residents' attitude, knowledge, and perceived preparedness toward caring for patients from diverse sociocultural backgrounds. Health Equity, 1(1),43-49. doi: 10.1089/heq.2016.0010. PMID: 28905046
Farrer, L., Marinetti , C., Cavaco, Y.K., Costongs, C. (2015). Advocacy for health equity: A synthesis review. The Milbank Quarterly, 93(2),392-437. doi: 10.1111/1468-0009.12112. PMID: 26044634
Kickett, M., Hoffman, J., & Flavell, H. (2014). A model for large-scale, interprofessional, compulsory cross-cultural education with an indigenous focus. Journal of Allied Health, 43(1),38-44. PMID: 24598898.
Alexander, K.A., Dovydaitis, T., Beacham, B., Bohinski, J.M., Brawner, B.M., Clements, C.P., ... Sommers, M.S. (2011). Learning health equity frameworks within a community of scholars. Journal of Nursing Education, 50(10), 569-74. doi: 10.3928/01484834-20110630-05. PMID: 21710960
