Public Health Preparedness Demo Sites

2007-2008 Demonstration Sites:

Incorporating Social Justice Principles and

Addressing Health Equity Through Public Health Preparedness

Overview of Demonstration Sites

The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) incorporated the idea of creating health equity through social justice as the second strategic direction of the organization to ensure that the work of NACCHO is embedded in these ideals and principles. Social Justice is defined as two basic themes. The first theme based on economic and social equality, with the second theme based on democratic equality. The term health equity is defined as, “the absence of systematic and potentially remediable differences in one or more aspects of health across populations or population groups defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically,” by the International Society for Equity in Health. Creating health equity, based on principles of social justice, means focusing on the underlying injustices that originate with racism, class, and gender discrimination. Such an approach provides a framework and adds a value or moral judgment to the empirical findings of social inequality that cause health inequity.

NACCHO, with guidance and funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will be funding five health departments to strengthen their public health preparedness infrastructure in addressing health equity through social justice by combating the root causes of inequity.