Health equity frameworks as a tool to support public health action: A curated list
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Health equity frameworks are one tool that public health practitioners, decision- and policy- makers can use to centre health equity action in their organizational and system contexts.
This curated list presents a select number of actionable health equity frameworks that can be used in different public health contexts. It further explores broader considerations and organizational and system levers necessary to advance health equity work, whether using a health equity framework or not.
Framework action levels and focus
The frameworks presented can be applied at different intervention levels, including clinical, individual, organizational, community and larger health systems. In addition, several of the frameworks identify specific areas of focus within the large umbrella of health equity work. These include addressing the complex intersections between climate change and health inequity, racism, Indigenous health inequities in cancer care and enhancing access to care for 2SLGBTQI+ populations. Several of the included frameworks focus on disrupting all health inequities across populations at organizational and system levels.
Key levers and approaches to advance health equity
Other included resources address key levers and approaches needed to advance health equity in public health contexts. These include the use of ethical space when working to develop deeply cooperative partnerships between Western institutions and First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples; anti-oppressive practice and the role of critical allyship; what is needed to prioritize health equity in health systems; and what needs to be considered when organizations are strengthening their change capacity for health equity.
Critical considerations when using frameworks
Readers are asked to consider critical questions when co-creating or using a framework, given that frameworks are often created in deeply inequitable contexts.
Critical questions include:
- How might this health equity framework serve to inadvertently maintain existing systems of oppression?
- How can this health equity framework be used to disrupt existing systems of oppression?
Additionally, the curated list acknowledges that health equity frameworks are only a tool and cannot be the sole approach that an organization employs to advance health equity. Other resources are required, including leadership, organizational capacity and competency.
Use this resource to
- Advance knowledge about the range of actionable health equity frameworks available for application in different public health contexts
- Explore broader considerations and organizational and system levers to advance health equity work when co-creating, adapting or using a framework
- Facilitate discussion about what is needed to centre health equity in public health contexts
Related resources:
Companion document: Health equity frameworks as a tool to support public health action: A rapid review of the literature
Implementing anti-racism interventions in healthcare settings: A scoping review
A review of frameworks on the determinants of health
See other curated reading lists.
Reference
National Collaborating Centre for Determinants of Health. (2024). Health equity frameworks as a tool to support public health action: A curated list. Antigonish, NS: NCCDH, St. Francis Xavier University.
Tags: Leadership & capacity building, Methods & tools, Health equity frameworks, Organizational capacity, Modify and orient interventions, Document, Curated Reading List