Health Equity

To advance health equity for all people, we must consider health inequities through a wide lens of experiences, identities, and systems. In recent years, health equity, as a scholarly domain and a central issue in medicine, has significantly evolved. As part of this evolution and growth, there is a need for continuous learning, assessment, and action. We are committed to advancing health equity that is grounded in the foundations of scientific assessment and evidentiary scholarship. In that spirit, we ground our work in the broader scholarship and leadership of our professional organizations, including teams from the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Center for Health Justice. These organizations came together to produce a trusted resource that guides our work, Advancing Health Equity: A Guide to Language, Narrative and Concepts, and which provides physicians, health care workers, and our communities with a valuable foundational toolkit for understanding health equity. 

The guide reports that "conversations about race and racism tend to be some of the most difficult for people in this country to participate in for numerous reasons, including a lack of knowledge or shared analysis of its historical and current underpinnings, as well as outright resistance and denial that racism exists.” The guide further notes that with the chasm between groups, understanding and empathy can be achieved by learning to walk a mile in another’s shoes. Together, we have an opportunity and obligation to overcome these divides and create spaces for understanding and healing.