How can we think about the different dimensions of equity?
This word cloud was created in a meeting of health councils participating in our Culture of Health Program. It encompasses the complexity of equity in our local communities.
What is equity?
Equity is balanced access to power, social standing and resources that create fairness for groups differentiated by class, race, gender, and/or other demographic factors.
Action Statement: Equality is providing everyone with the same resources and opportunities. Equity involves identifying and providing the specific support, resources, and opportunities that people and communities need so that everyone can live their healthiest possible life. (Adapted from APHA)
What is health equity?
Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. Achieving this requires removing obstacles to health— such as poverty and discrimination and their consequences, which include powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay; quality education, housing, and health care; and safe environments. (Adapted from RWJF)
Action Statement: To achieve this, we must create the social, economic, and environmental conditions that lead to health equity and establish a fair distribution of power that recreates healthy lives for all New Mexicans.
What is racial equity?
Racial equity is when racial identity no longer predicts how a person or a population fares.
Action Statement: This requires the elimination of racism and white supremacism within systems, policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that perpetuate health and social outcomes currently predicted by race in the United States.
