APHA Annual Meeting Reflection by S. Khan

My Reflection on the APHAAnnual Meeting by Samira Khan, MPH ‘17

“What would it look like if equity was the starting point for decision-making?” This quote highlights the theme of this lecture, that centered around shifting the narrative towards building movements for health policies that addressed all issues, or implementing a “Health in All Policies” approach. The three guest panel speakers all highlighted the various issues that affected not only a person’s health, but their access to health itself. Things like minimum wage, paid leave, income, incarceration, transportation policies, immigration polices, and other similar issues all affect what type of healthcare a person can access. Community and local government leaders need to address all the factors that may influence a person’s health if they truly want a healthier community. The first panel speaker talked about “a tale of two zip codes” and how communities right next door to each other may experience drastic differences in their health disparities and what they have access to. One town may be a fountain of healthy foods whereas the town right next door may be a complete food desert. Areas with greater income inequality usually see greater health disparities. However, changing these factors will change the odds for everyone. The panel speaker talked about how the medical model focuses simply on treating the patients or preventing the illness from occurring, but mainly is centered around the patient and the disease. The socioecological model focuses more on building health communities and using power, policy and narrative to push for changes within the community. There needs to a move of narrative from exclusion to inclusion. Building social, political and economic power can promote health equality. The second panel speaker discussed the need for public health to transform its work to focus on what causes disparities. Changing the conditions that affect health requires the capacity to act. Communities need to build power from within to be able to influence these conditions, and there is also a dire need for community centered care. Overall, the panel speakers were incredibly inspiring and really put into perspective the need to have more comprehensive policies, and that its not only important to address the health disparities, but focus on what is causing the health disparities to truly get a preventative approach. In order to achieve health equity, it is important to address the inequity that exists in society today. “It is important to move the middle, not move to the middle.”