Resources
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CDC Practitioners Guide for Advancing Health Equity (pages 6-9).
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Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center. Evidence-Based Public Health Online Course
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Northwest Public Health Training Center. Evidence-Based Public Health Online Training Series.
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Prevention Research Center in St. Louis. Evidence-Based Public Health 3-day in-person training.
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NACCHO. Guidelines for Achieving Health Equity in Public Health Practice.
2. Establishing a health equity commitment within an agency
Including a health equity lens in agency decisions, policies and programs is important because long-term goals and every day choices influence those who work in the agency and those who live in the communities served by public health. Agencies and individuals within those agencies should consider how every decision, from internal functions like hiring practices and training to external work like community assessment and program implementation affect health outcomes.
You can advance health equity within your agency using the following ideas:
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Establish an institutional commitment to advance health equity;
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Align funding decisions with commitment to health equity;
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Be deliberate in recruiting and building staff skills to advance health equity;
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Track and capture health equity efforts in training and performance plans;
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Integrate health equity into services and resources; and
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Establish multi-sector collaborations and relationships with diverse communities.
1. Establishing evidence-based decision making within an agency
Evidence-based decision-making can positively advance the climate and culture of any agency.
The following highlights the areas that can be improve evidence-based decision-making in the daily work of your agency:
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Strengthen leadership support for evidence-based public health and decision making;
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Improve access to information on evidence-based public health and decision making;
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Strengthen knowledge and competencies by training the public health workforce; and
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Adapt evidence-based principles to local setting (Citation: Within an Agency, #1)