"Everyone should have a fair opportunity to attain their full health potential and no one should be disadvantaged from achieving this potential." -World Health Organization
What is health equity?
Health equity can be defined as "the attainment of the highest level of health for all people." On the U-M campus, health and well-being is not experienced equally by all students. Racism, xenophobia, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, and other forms of oppression are harmful to student health and well-being, leading to health disparities that impact students' college or graduate school experience. Pursuing health equity means we work continually to address inequitable contributors to health, and to make resources more responsive to what students need.
How can we improve health equity?
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation offers four steps to practice:
1. Identify important health disparities
2. Change and implement policies, laws, systems, environments, and practices to reduce inequities in the opportunities and resources needed to be as healthy as possible
3. Evaluate and monitor efforts using short- and long-term measures
4. Reassess strategies in light of process and outcomes, and plan next steps
Cultural competence vs. cultural humility
Cultural competence is a model in which health care providers or organizations seek to promote positive and effective interactions with diverse cultures and understand the core needs of a target audience, designing services and materials to meet those needs. Some limitations of this model are that it can lead to assumptions or stereotyping, and it's difficult to become "competent" in a culture that's not your own.
Cultural humility, on the other hand, means a lifelong commitment to self-reflection and self-discovery (e.g. of our own beliefs, values, assumptions, and biases). This work is never finished, rather, it's an ongoing curiosity about how our own culture affects our understanding. Through cultural humility, we work to fix power imbalances and advocate for systematic changes within our organizations.
Health Equity Grant
If your U-M student organization is engaged in activities to promote well-being among students impacted by campus health disparities, UHS Wolverine Wellness wants to help!
A new Health Equity Grant provides funds and planning help for student-led health equity projects. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until all funds are used ($2,000 per semester). Groups can request up to $500 per year for their projects.
Read more and apply here!
Questions? E-mail [email protected].
See also:
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Achieving Health Equity
Health Equity Institute at San Francisco State University
U-M Student Life's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan