Public health have long been leaders in advancing health equity: whether developing comprehensive equity strategies, conducting local research on the roots of health inequities, providing innovative programs and support to health disadvantaged populations, working in broad collaborations to create and sustain the social and infrastructural foundations of healthy communities, or creative initiatives to shift the framing of health to consider wider social determinants.
I was thrilled to recently spend some time planning with the Health Equity Working Group of the Ontario Public Health Association and the Association of Local Public Health Agencies. Among many initiatives, they are developing performance management systems and equity indicators and ways to most effectively embed equity in provincial public health standards.
In my talk, I set out an overall strategic framework; identify the equity planning tools, data, targets and indicators, local collaboration, and other success conditions needed to implement health equity; and consider how OPHA, Public Health Ontario and other key public health leaders could facilitate innovation and coordinated action on health equity.