Health Equity Resources is an impressively thorough roundup of the latest news, research, and events related to health disparities and the social determinants of health. It’s curated and delivered by email twice a month by Carly Hood, a population health service fellow at the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute.
What follows is just a sampling of the latest installment – the full version is nine pages and available here, along with past issues. If you’d like to join the list, send an email to Hood at chood@wisc.edu. Follow her on Twitter @cm_hood.
Health equity resources – May 23rd, 2014
Articles:
- Doctors Can’t Research the Health of Black Men, Because They Keep Getting Sent to Prison. Vox. 5/13/2014. “When the US government banned prisoners from participating in medical research back in 1978, it was trying to protect their health. But the move may have inadvertently skewed decades of medical research — particularly research into racial inequalities in health. A new study suggests that some of the biggest medical studies of the last few decades may have seriously distorted data on African-American men.” Read more
- Failing Economy, Failing Health. Harvard School of Public Health. 2014. “Five years after the Great Recession officially came to an end, the United States has yet to fully recover from the economic devastation sparked by the collapse of an $8 trillion housing bubble…But while the economic costs of the downturn have drawn the lion’s share of attention, the damage to our bodies could end up far surpassing the damage to our bank accounts…It’s not surprising that President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal—the panoply of social and economic programs enacted between 1933 and 1938 and credited with pulling the country out of the Great Depression—has been described as a massive public health program. Not only does wealth make health, but health makes wealth—in part because healthier people are more productive and less likely to cost health care dollars. These findings suggest that a national focus on improving Americans’ health even in economic downtimes can be part of an overall economic stimulus.” Read more
- Foreclosures May Raise Neighbors Blood Pressure, Study Finds. Washington Post. 5/12/2014. “The stress of living near a foreclosed home may increase a person’s chances of developing high blood pressure, according to research published Monday. While foreclosures are known to drag down the values of neighboring properties, the new research suggests that they can also undermine the health of the neighbors themselves.” Read more
- How Being Poor Makes You Sick. The Atlantic. 5/21/2014. “It’s well known that low-income people aren’t as healthy…When doctors treat poor patients, they’re facing not just one ailment, but two: the illness itself, and the economic fragility that underlies it. Our society in general has looked at the issue of poverty in two ways: either a social problem, or a mental-health problem…But it’s also a serious medical problem.”Read more
- Suburban Poverty: A Year of Lessons. Brookings Institute. 5/20/2014. “Over the course of the last year, we’ve traveled to dozens of communities across the country to talk about the rapid rise of suburban poverty, a trend experienced by almost every major metro area in recent years, and what it means for residents, communities, policymakers, and practitioners grappling with the shifting geography of poverty. Here are our top five reflections from those travels…”
Policy, Reports & Tools:
- A Renewed Promise: How Promise Zones Can Help ReShape the Federal Place-Based Agenda. Center for American Progress. 5/20/2014. “The Promise Zones initiative is designed to revitalize high-poverty communities through comprehensive, evidence-based strategies and help local leaders navigate federal funding. Promise Zones designees—five in the first round announced in January—receive priority access to federal resources to support job creation, increase economic security, expand educational opportunities, increase access to quality, affordable housing, and improve public safety.” Read more
- Children of Immigrants: 2011 State Trends Update. Urban Institute. May 2014. “This brief presents data highlights from the 2010 and 2011 American Community Surveys. The statistics presented in this brief and interactive maps can be accessed through the Children of Immigrants Data Tool web site.” See more here
- Commitment to Equity. Center for Inter-American Policy and Research, Tulane University & Inter-American Dialogue. “The Commitment to Equity (CEQ) was designed to analyze the impact of taxation and social spending on inequality and poverty in individual countries, and provide a roadmap for governments, multilateral institutions, and nongovernmental organizations in their efforts to build more equitable societies.” See tool
- Equity & Empowerment Lens: Multnomah County. [Changed made March 2014] “The Equity and Empowerment Lens, which has a racial justice focus, embodies social responsibility as a quality improvement process and tool. The Lens reflects upon and evaluates the effectiveness of a policy, program or practice in regards to the fair and just distribution of resources and representation.” Read more
Research & Papers:
- Obesity and Economic Environments. A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 5/22/2014. “This review summarizes current understanding of economic factors during the obesity epidemic and dispels some widely held, but incorrect, beliefs. See paper here
- Racial Bias in Driver Yielding Behavior at Crosswalks. Portland State University. “Results revealed that Black pedestrians were passed by twice as many cars and experienced wait times that were 32% longer than White pedestrians. Results support the hypothesis that minority pedestrians experience discriminatory treatment by drivers.” See study here
Websites & Grants:
- Be our Voice. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation & National Institute for Children’s Health Quality. The project aims to contribute to reversing the childhood obesity trend across the nation by training and supporting healthcare professionals and other leaders in becoming advocates for better policies and changes within their own communities. See tools here
- Community Commons (NEW DATA). Mapping: Access to Primary Care Physicians. See data here
- Community Commons (NEW DATA). Mapping: Rural vs. Urban Childhood Poverty. See data here
Webinars, Recordings & Videos:
- Obesity Trends (slideset). University of Illinois—At Urbana-Champaign. See slides here
- Social Capital & Health. Harvard Public Health Magazine Extra. April 2014. “Roseto, Pennsylvania was settled by Italian immigrants who were found to have astonishingly low rates of heart disease in the 1950s. Ichiro Kawachi, chair of Harvard School of Public Health’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, explains why Roseto is a cautionary tale in regards to social capital and a recession.” Watch here
Conferences & Presentations:
- 7th Annual Health Impact Assessment Practitioners Summer Training Course. Health Impact Project. Oakland, CA. July 14-17, 2014. Register here
