HEALTH EQUITY Introduction

What is Health Equity, and Why is it important?

Creating health equity is a guiding priority and core value of both APHA and HPHA. By health equity, we mean everyone has the opportunity to attain their highest level of health.

How do we achieve health equity? We address the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, learn and age. These social determinants of health are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources that include employment, housing, education, health care, public safety and food access. 

Inequities are created when barriers prevent individuals and communities from accessing these conditions and reaching their full potential. Inequities differ from health disparities, which are differences in health status between people that are related to social or demographic factors such as race, gender, income or geographic region. Health disparities are one way we can measure our progress toward achieving health equity.

Source: http://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/health-equity?gclid=CLO3nPW6wcgCFU1qfgodwdkK3w

We hope that these resources and opportunities listed below will be useful in our collective efforts to address health equity in Hawai’i.

RESOURCES:

Dr. Camara Jones Gardner's Tale

Dr. Camara Jones Social Determinants of Children's Health

Action for Health Justice (AHJ) *Health Insurance Enrollment Glossary*