What is health and social equity and why is it important?
What are we doing to achieve social and health equity?
To achieve health equity, we must tackle broader social inequalities - access to power, resources, and opportunities – all of which determine the distribution of health and disease within the population. Alameda County Public Health Department is working to achieve health equity through several strategies:
- transforming our own organization through institutional change;
- working with residents on neighborhood initiatives and building partnerships to address the root causes of health inequities;
- addressing local, state, and federal policies that impact social and health inequities;
- supporting this innovative work with data and research; and
- connecting our programs and services to all of these areas.
Our work is also guided by our Framework for Achieving Health Equity, adapted from the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative. Our seminal work, Life and Death from Unnatural Causes: Health and Social Inequity in Alameda County, provides additional information on our work.