An overview of the program on health, equity and sustainability

Over the past decade, the Program on Health, Equity and Sustainability (PHES), situated within the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Environmental Health Section, has expanded the boundaries of environmental health practice to address issues of environmental and social justice. PHES staff address key environmental, economic, and social health determinants including access to clean drinking water, affordable and healthy food, health and safety for low-income and immigrant workers, neighborhood infrastructure, and transportation planning. Program activities include applied research, collaboration, policy development, and advocacy impacting the health of residents and workers across the lifespan.

This presentation will serve as an introduction to this session and provide an overview of PHES, including its mission and the working principles which are shared across the disparate issue areas and include: a) engagement in cross-sectoral work to make policy change that supports health; b) bringing new health data and evidence to the table; c) collective problem-solving in interdisciplinary collaborations; d) responsiveness to concerns raised by community and local government stakeholders; and, e) a commitment to equity. The introduction will also highlight challenges to expanding the scope of environmental health practice and strategies to overcoming such barriers, and will introduce the four subsequent presentations which provide case studies of the working principles.