Bridging Health Equity Gaps Through Content Curation

Background:

In the United States, a widening socioeconomic gap, extensive poverty, and multi-level racism, discrimination, and segregation contribute to inequitable distribution of healthcare as well as a significant disparity in mental and physical health outcomes among Latino and other population groups. Evidence suggests that this situation makes it challenging to achieve a cohesive culture for health equity. A cohesive culture is defined as one in which everyone works both individually and together to ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity for health, wealth, access to basic services and resources, and the pursuit of happiness.

Program background:

To determine particular inequities Latinos and other populations face, Salud America!—The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s national Latino-focused organization that creates culturally relevant multimedia research, tools, and stories to fuel people to start and support policy, system, and environmental changes in schools and communities to improve Latino health, reduce disparities, and promote health equity and a culture of health —conducted a comprehensive research review of studies and policies related to the social and health impact of poverty, the impact of racism and bias among minorities and those living in poverty, and emerging interventions, policies, and practices to alleviate the conditions of poverty, improve social cohesion, reduce bias, and improve compassion toward all groups to contribute to a cohesive culture and health equity.

Evaluation Methods and Results:

The research review showed that inequality, including but not limited to income and healthcare inequality, is propagated by implicit racial or ethnic bias. Implicit bias influences behavior regardless of intentions and can result in people unintentionally bolstering inequality. Additionally, social media facilitates connections around the world, harnessing collective power and helping to mobilize people to engage in efforts toward positive social change.

Conclusions:

As a result, Salud America! developed the online Healthy & Cohesive Cultures platform to promote health equity by curating culturally relevant content that supports healthy changes to policies, systems, and environments where Latino children and families can equitably live, learn, work, and play.

Implications for research and/or practice:

Collaborative efforts between federal and local governments, health departments, hospitals and hospital systems, school systems, community organizations, and community members is necessary to address the significant racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in the United States, and to create a cohesive culture where everyone can thrive.