Health Equity: What It Means and Why It Matters

 There are many stories like this that illustrate why health equity matters. When it comes to health, many factors affect how the odds are stacked. If you’ve noticed that the phrase “health equity” is in the news much more of late, you’re right.

 It’s because the events of last year—not only COVID-19, but also issues around systemic racism and social justice—have highlighted the fact that some people face more struggles in life due to their background, culture, race, financial status, type of employment, whether or not they live with a disability, or other distinguishing factors.

As the topic of health equity gains traction in national conversations, Yale School of Medicine is emerging as a leader in the area.

In December, it was announced that she will serve as a senior advisor in the Biden-Harris White House as the inaugural chair of a federal COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force. Already a national leader in the field, Dr. Nunez-Smith occupies multiple roles at Yale, including serving as director of the Center for Community Engagement and Health Equity, the inaugural associate dean for Health Equity Research, and founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC), which will be incorporated as a center within a newly formed trans-institutional Office for Health Equity Research that aligns resources and programs focused on health equity across Yale School of Medicine.

What is health equity?

As a term, health equity is broad. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as a society we’ll achieve health equity “when everyone has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible.” Focusing on the pandemic, the CDC notes that “longstanding systemic health and social inequities have put many racial and ethnic minority groups at increased risk of getting sick and dying.” Black and Latinx Americans, for example, are roughly four times more likely to be hospitalized with complications from COVID-19 than non-Hispanic white people. In response, the CDC calls for addressing the situation by making sure everyone can maintain and manage physical and mental health, which requires easy access to information, affordable testing, and medical and mental health care.

Health equity versus health equality

infectious diseases specialist who is leading Yale’s clinical studies around COVID-19, says there is an important distinction between “equality” and “equity.” “Imagine there's a high fence, and the goal is to look over the fence,” he says. “A tall adult can see easily, a shorter adult may need a boost, and a child will need to be lifted up to see over it.”

If given three blocks of equal height to stand on, the shorter adult would still need to stretch to see, and the child wouldn’t see at all—each needs a block of the appropriate size, he says. “So, equity means that people have to get what they need to achieve the same results. It’s less about the quantity of what to do and more about the end result in outcomes.”