Advancing Health Equity
A reflection tool for organizations, programs, and individuals committed to equity
The next section describes quantifying the public health problems or issues using a health equity lens.
The next module is Quantifying the Issue for Health Equity
In this module, key questions guide users to integrate health equity into the community assessment process to ensure a more accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of a community’s health. The module also:
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Provides insight into the community context and ensures that interventions will be designed, planned, and carried out in a way that maximizes benefits to reduce health inequities and disparities.
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Facilitates partnerships in determining where to focus and provide resources and interventions.
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Helps to create an understanding of the relationship between the social determinants and the health behaviors or outcomes of interest.
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Ensures that community voices are heard, especially those of people who are marginalized.
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Includes a focus on community assets and strengths, not deficits.
Defining the Scope
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Who is our community? Are there multiple communities within the area you serve? Who comprises them?
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How does the scope of the community we are looking at shape our community assessment? 7
Understanding the Context
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What are the values of the community? 7
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What existing relationships or history exist in this community, including with us? 1
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Have we examined community context and historical factors that may help our understanding of existing health inequities? What factors may be producing and perpetuating these negative and positive effects on communities? 1
Developing the Assessment
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Who should be included in the conversation? Who do we need to talk to? Who needs to be at the table?
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What are the various ways that we will reach out to the community? What mechanisms can we rely on to elicit community voice? How do we give space for all voices in the community? 7
Considering Key Issues
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Are we using language that facilitates or creates barriers to engaging the intended communities? What are our own biases in developing mechanisms to assess the community? 1
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Do we collect disaggregated data that allows us to understand the health status of specific populations? If not, what do we need to do differently to ensure we have disaggregated data?
Core Questions
