Meeting a Critical Need

The last few decades have been marked by numerous health crises and conditions that pose an unparalleled challenge to the public health sector. Moreover, despite some progress, minority and underserved populations (which may vary from community to community and country to country) are still disproportionately affected, both in the U.S. and globally. In the face of these challenges, new resources, more effective training, and greater competencies are needed to effectively promote changes in health behavior at the population and policy levels.

Achieving health equity requires the involvement of all segments of society and interested communities. At HEI, we believe that everyone who is working in public health is or must be implicitly involved in health equity. After all, what is the relevance of preventative and medical advancements if they do not reach those who need them most?

Yet “health equity” often means different things to different communities. In fact, health equity may be linked to a variety of factors, from adequate access to health services, to access to culturally-competent and easy-to-understand information, to the importance of caring and friendly clinical settings, to supportive community and social environments, to adequate social and physical infrastructure, to levels of preparedness and readiness to respond to health crises and emergencies, etc. Health equity progress indicators may change from culture to culture, health issue to health issue, and community to community. Ideally, indicators should be identified and recognized by the communities that may benefit from such progress, so they may be invested in helping achieve them. Most importantly, indicators need to correspond to precise and feasible behavioral, social and policy steps. In addressing these many challenges, HEI uses a systematic and multifaceted approach to promote participation and progress toward health equity.