Transcript Righting the Wrong of Social Injustice in Health

Righting the Wrong of Social
Injustice in Health
***
Why it matters?
Why act now?
Health Equity and Young
Children Conference
May 29, 2013
Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH
Washington State Department of Health
1
10 Things to Remember about Health
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Health is more than health care.
Health is tied to the distribution of resources.
Racism imposes an added health burden.
The choices we make are shaped by the choices we
have.
High demand + low control = chronic stress.
Chronic stress can be deadly.
Inequality – economic and political – is bad for our
health.
Social policy is health policy.
Health inequalities are not natural.
We all pay the price for poor health.
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is
the most shocking and the most inhumane.”
Martin Luther King Jr. – March 25, 1966
2nd National Convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights
“Nowhere are the divisions of race and ethnicity
more sharply drawn than in the health of our
people…no matter what the reason, racial and
ethnic disparities in health are unacceptable in a
country that values equality and equal
opportunity for all.”
Bill Clinton – February 21, 1998
3
Health Disparities vs. Inequities
• Disparity only defines differences between
groups.
• Inequity describes the “causes” of
disparities in the context of environmental
conditions that are required to generate
parity and equality.
4
Inequities result in disparities in
health status that are “unfair,
unjust, avoidable and unnecessary.”
5
Healthy People 2010 addressed the need to
eliminate disparities, but these disparities
are rooted in societal inequities
manifested through institutional racism,
income gaps, entrenched poverty and
social injustice!
A new vision for Healthy People 2020 is
needed.
6
Why inequities matter?
7
76
Denmark
Cuba
Ireland
United States
Barbados
Finland
Costa Rica
Singapore
United Kingdom
Cyprus
Greece
Germany
New Zealand
Malta
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Austria
Italy
Belgium
France
Norway
Isreal
Switerland
Australia
Spain
Canada
Iceland
Hong Kong, China (SAR)
Sweden
Japan
Life Expectancy (years)
Health Olympics
Health Olympics 2002
UN Human Development Report 20
82
81
80
79
78
77
8
Not everyone has equal
opportunity for health
9
Inequalities in Opportunity
Start Early
10
“Getting it right in the
beginning is getting it right!”
Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH
11
12
An Integrated Science of Early Childhood
Development Could Drive More Productive
Investments Across Sectors
Health
Education
SCIENCE OF
EARLY
CHILDHOOD
Human
Economic
Services
Development
Timing is Everything!
14
Abundance of Opportunity for
Policy, Programs and Services
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Health Reform (ACA)
Home Visiting (MIECHV)
Early child and brain development science
Early child care and education funds
Race to the Top Grants (RTT)
Community Transformation Grants
Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Grants
Child Care and Development Funds
Head Start
State funded Pre-K
Early Childhood Advisory Councils
BUILD Initiatives
Project Launch
QRIS
Reach Out and Read
Washington State’s
Essential Question
How can we use a racial equity lens
to help inform our approach in
supporting the development of an
early learning system at the local
and state level?
16
Washington State’s approach to
RETOC and early learning
17
“Impossible is just a big word
thrown around by small men
who find it easier to live in the
world they’ve been given than to
explore the power they have to
change it.”
Muhammad Ali
18
“We must all have the audacity to
believe we can transform the current
system”
Maxine Hayes, MD, MPH
19