Role of the states and territories

Health disparities exist by race, ethnicity, class and other social determinants of health. The cost of the attributable preventable illnesses and injuries is enormous. This is why ASTHO launched a 2010/11 Call-to-Action to achieve Health Equity. At the 2011 ASTHO conference we summarized the breakthroughs in the last 12 months. These included collaborative efforts across ASTHO's several affiliate organizations and multiple examples of new efforts throughout the country – from anti-tobacco work in the tribal nations to “informercials” as part of popular Spanish language television shows to employee training videos on the importance of combating racism. We found that some states maintain long-established offices focusing on programs to close the health disparities gap, while others are in the midst of new public awareness campaigns to demonstrate the extent of disparities and the impact of socioeconomic determinants on health. Among the themes that emerged: make health equity an essential element in public health strategy; embed the concept of health equity in all public health programs; educate other state departments, from education to housing to transportation, on the impact of their policies on people's health; gather detailed data on sub-populations both to design and evaluate programs to reduce health disparities; and forge strong partnerships with community groups, foundations, corporations and local health departments to achieve health equity goals. We will present best practices from across the states and territories and discuss the impact of the Health Equity & Accountability Act of 2012.