HEALTH EQUITY: Overcoming Obstacles to Reach Health Equity

What is health equity? Health equity is a fair and equal chance for everyone to have a healthy life. This means equal access to healthy foods, a healthy living environment and access to good health services. In a perfect world, we would have health equity. Unfortunately, there are many obstacles that keep some groups of people from reaching this goal.

Root causes of social determinants

Factors like social and economic status, education level, your zip code or race can determine your access to a healthy lifestyle. Living in an area with high levels of crime takes a toll on your mental health. You also become exposed to risks that others do not face. Some of these areas may not have grocery stores nearby. This makes it difficult to eat healthy foods frequently. A lack of transportation is an issue as well. If you don’t have a car, it can take hours to get to a doctor’s appointment with public transportation. Any of these aspects can impact how easy it is to get decent health care.

How to achieve health equity

So, what can we do if these things are out of our control? You might suggest moving to a better neighborhood, but it’s not that simple for some people. A better option is for people, no matter their circumstances, to come together and improve their communities. It is important to work for change where you live and work. That’s the purpose of health equity. Despite your race, religion, social or economic status, we should all have the same opportunities for health. To get started, you can make healthy choices for you and your family. Take action to help improve your community. There is also the option to start a DE Thrives Health Equity Action Team. Spread the word about health equity!