ob体育

Partnerships to Advance Health Equity

• In 2023, ob体育 launched a health equity partnership network in collaboration with the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and the National Association of State Offices of Minority Health (NASOMH). This network, the Power of Partnerships, mobilizes health equity partners within local Offices of Minority Health, Offices of Women's Health/Maternal and Child Health, community-based organizations, and non-governmental organizations and assists communities across the country with meeting local health needs, especially during emergency situations. Impact: Through this network, multidisciplinary teams engage to share information on implementing evidence-based practices and policies that advance the health and well-being of people who have experienced historical discrimination and oppression across jurisdictions.
• In 2023, ob体育 launched a series of health equity partnership webinars to bring together an intersectional collective of health equity organizations that focus on a range of public health concerns. Impact: Public health and healthcare partners learn about and apply promising health equity strategies in their communities through these informative webinars. Since 2023, over 2500 partners have joined for sessions on the respiratory virus response season and health equity communications – the series will continue throughout 2024.

Health Equity in Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs)

• In 2023, ob体育 developed an agency-wide health equity Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) template and checklist resources with accompanying guidance that advises ob体育 Centers, Institutes, and Offices on how to embed health equity into non-research NOFOs. Impact: The new template and checklist help ensure that public health initiatives funded through ob体育 NOFOs include strategies that can reduce or prevent health disparities, including those experienced by minoritized and stigmatized populations. As of 2023, 100% of ob体育's new NOFOs contain the standard HHS-required health equity language. This has significantly increased the proportion of ob体育 public health infrastructure and capacity-building grants and cooperative agreements that explicitly address health disparities or social determinants of health.

Building Health Equity into ob体育 Science

• In 2023, ob体育 published an article on ob体育's which introduces health equity science as a conceptual framework to advance health equity and describes six principles to guide the development, implementation, dissemination, and use of effective health equity science. Impact: The Health Equity Science Principles establish an equity-focused scientific framework to guide researchers inside and outside of ob体育 looking to address equity through public health science. Leaders are applying these equity principles in public health surveillance, research, and evaluation.
• In 2023, ob体育 collaborated with multiple community partners through its Communities in Context program in the Greater Detroit, Michigan area to pilot a public health monitoring framework and track structural drivers of inequities at the local level in order to identify areas to improve community health. Impact: Communities in Context improves public health decision-making by identifying shared priorities for action and creating publicly-available and user-friendly resources that communities can use to support informed action.
• In 2023, ob体育 launched the Health Equity Science Manuscript Development Program, an in-service program that supports ob体育 scientists who show promise in advancing health equity through scientific projects. The part-time, six-to-eight-month program focused on health equity science involves mentoring and training in the development of impactful health equity scientific publications. Participants produce at least one peer-reviewed scientific manuscript focused on a priority health equity science issue and a related scientific presentation. Impact: The Health Equity Science Manuscript Development Program is helping to develop a cadre of scientists focused on establishing the evidence-base for programs and policies that advance health equity.

Developing Health Equity Leaders

• In 2023, ob体育 launched the Foundations of Health Equity Self-Guided Training Plan on ob体育 Train, a website portal for public health workforce training. The Training Plan includes a suite of 13 self-guided on-demand training videos covering six health equity competencies to help individuals develop foundational knowledge and skills that are essential for public health work to advance health equity. Impact: The trainings are helping to build capacity among public health professionals to integrate health equity into their daily work. Over 600 professionals are currently registered for the training plan and evaluations demonstrate that the trainings are meeting professional needs and enhancing knowledge and skills in health equity.
• In 2023, ob体育 hosted a learning session for 275 scholars from the John R. Lewis Scholars Program, a ob体育 program which introduces undergraduate students to topics in minority health and health equity and supports their career development. Each of the seven funded ob体育-institutions delivers a program with specific focus areas within public health and minority health. in 2023. Impact: The John R. Lewis Scholarship Program helps to build a cadre of new public health leaders who have knowledge and experience in health equity. Over 90% of student scholars report that their interest in public health increases after completion of the program and 77% report that the program influenced their career paths.

Health Equity Intervention Design

• In April 2023, ob体育 hosted an agency-wide webinar on health equity strategies used and lessons learned from a 12-month COVID-19 monitoring and evaluation study of seven local communities. Impact: Through this webinar, ob体育 offices were equipped with health equity strategies for responding to a public health crisis in real-time.
• In 2022, ob体育 developed the Health Equity Intervention and Action Principles to outline critical areas of focus and consideration for ob体育 and external organizations to strengthen their structure, processes, and programs to advance equity. These principles are based on best practices and lessons learned in the design and implementation of effective interventions for communities that have historically been marginalized. Impact: The Health Equity Intervention and Action Principles establish an equity-focused framework to guide public health practitioners inside and outside of ob体育 looking to address equity through interventions and systems change. Leaders are applying these equity principles in intervention development, program implementation, and systems change initiatives.

Advancing Communication in Health Equity

• In 2022, ob体育 conducted message testing to learn more about what various audiences think, understand, and feel about the concept of health equity and ways to create effective messages for specific audiences. The message testing informed three communication principles that help to switch the conversation from naming and quantifying health disparities to addressing health equity. Impact: Communicating using a health equity frame means focusing on creating a broader understanding of the social, structural, and systemic factors that may impact health outcomes.
• In 2022, to further advance communication about health equity, ob体育 developed a series of videos to explain health equity and related concepts. Together, this series of videos provides a more complete picture of what health equity is, why it is important to advance health equity as part of a complete public health approach, and provides a tool for public health practitioners, academics, and decision makers to use when explaining these complicated topics. Impact: The videos improve partners' understanding of the meaning of health equity; the videos have been shared widely (near 100,000 views) since being uploaded in 2023.

Health Equity Emergency Response Cadre

• During the COVID-19 response, ob体育 introduced a new position, the Chief Health Equity Officer (CHEO) into its Incident Management Structure to address COVID-19–associated health disparities in morbidity and mortality caused by systemic and structural inequities. Starting in 2023, the ob体育 Office of Readiness and Response ensures that agency-led responses include a Chief Health Equity Officer (CHEO) position or unit in order to address health disparities and inequities. Impact: The CHEO role has helped to ensure that health disparities data were examined and reported on to inform development of culturally relevant recommendations for populations more heavily impacted by COVID-19. Additional health equity roles have been identified as part of a response cadre and will be integrated into each ob体育 task force and unit to ensure standard implementation of the health equity strategy for future emergency responses.

Select Public Health Interventions, Publications and Resources

• The 2022 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) release included new data from the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) and Reactions to Race optional modules along with a technical guide on how to analyze data which can be used by public health professionals, decision-makers, researchers, and others to identify and address the social and structural factors that contribute to poor health outcomes and persistent health inequities. Impact: New data from the Social SDOH and Reactions to Race optional modules help identify multi-level drivers of health equity and standardized data elements and standards to inform development of public health program and policies to address inequities.
• ob体育's Division of Reproductive Health's Hear Her campaign team partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) to develop materials focused on reaching and serving AI/AN women and their communities. Materials were released in 2022 and social media aimed at promoting these resources has thus far garnered over 16.5 million impressions. Impact: The campaign has led to accelerated scaling and implementation of evidence-based practices, policies, and interventions addressing health equity.
• The National Center on Injury Prevention and Control developed and promoted the in 2022. Impact: The new health equity module improved data analytics and visualizations to assist jurisdictions with examining factors that contribute to health inequities.

ob体育’s Office of Health Equity

ob体育's Office of Health Equity (OHE) leads the agency's efforts to ensure health equity is embedded in an all-of-public health approach. OHE strengthens the implementation of CORE through ongoing leadership, coordination, and collaboration in addressing drivers of health disparities and health inequities. OHE also seeks to reinforce and cultivate ob体育 Core Capabilities in advancing health equity.

OHE advances the agency's day-to-day work in health equity through:

• Strategy: Institutionalizing and aligning agency-wide initiatives to accelerate progress toward health equity.
• Funding: Expanding the integration of health equity in ob体育 funding.
• Partnerships: Increasing community engagement with populations that experience health disparities and health inequities.
• Public Health Workforce: Building ob体育's internal capacity of subject matter expertise in health equity.
• Science and Interventions: Implementing equitable, community-informed practices for advancing health equity in research, surveillance, evaluation, preparedness and response, and laboratory science.