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Place Matters for Health: Using Infographics to Compel Action to Eliminate Health Inequities
Background
The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies proposes a poster presentation to illustrate how locally-tailored Community Health Equity Reports (CHERs) can illuminate the relationship between place and health, and point to solutions that reduce the concentration of health risks in communities of color. The poster will feature an infographic summarizing key findings in the CHERs, including geographic inequities, and recommendations for policy solutions.
Methods
With support from a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the Joint Center, working with research partners at the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Human Needs, the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research, and the Joint Center’s PLACE MATTERS teams, created a series of CHERs that examine the relationship between neighborhood-level demographics, health risks and resources, and health status. For example, the CHERs examine the relationship between neighborhood-level racial composition, poverty concentration, environmental health threats, and community health status.
Results
The CHERs revealed striking inequality in health status based on neighborhood. For example, in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, our research identified a 28-year variation in life expectancy across census tracts. In Orleans Parish (New Orleans), there is a 25.5-year disparity in life expectancy between zip codes.
Conclusion: Using a community-based participatory research model, PLACE MATTERS teams are identifying priority health concerns of low-income communities and communities of color and are developing upstream interventions to address underlying social and economic conditions that shape health outcomes.
Learning Areas:
Diversity and cultureLearning Objectives:
Identify the relationship between place and health;
Illustrate the distribution of health risks and resources in communities of color;
Demonstrate strategies for identifying areas of extreme distress and solutions for tracking progress over time.
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am responsible for providing technical assistance to the Health Policy Institute’s “PLACE MATTERS,” a key initiative to improve the health of participating communities. PLACE MATTERS builds the capacity of communities and leaders to address and identify social, economic, environmental conditions that shape health and life opportunities
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.