Category Page: Health Equity

About Health Equity

Health equity refers to the absence of avoidable or modifiable differences in health among populations or groups defined socially, economically, or geographically. These measurable health differences arise from underlying levels of social advantage/disadvantage, show a consistent pattern across the population, and are considered to be unfair.

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National and International Context

In 2012, the Government of Canada endorsed the Rio Political Declaration on the Social Determinants of Health. The Rio Declaration calls upon states to measure, understand and reduce health inequities through action on the social determinants of health, and to assess the impact of those initiatives. It builds on the findings of the 2008 World Health Organization’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, which recommended three principles of action to achieve health equity:

  • improve daily living conditions, including the circumstances in which people are born, grow, live, work and age
  • tackle the inequitable distribution of power, money and resources
  • measure and understand the problem, and assess the impact of action

The Rio Declaration complements domestic commitments made by federal, provincial and territorial Ministers of Health and provides a global benchmark and framework for action to build on efforts already underway in the Public Health Agency of Canada. These commitments reinforce that it is possible to advance health equity from several different entry points. These vary according to the intervention level or focus, and may involve taking action in one or more of the following ways:

  • reducing social and economic barriers to good health (structure-based)
  • reducing exposure to health damaging factors (environment-based)
  • strengthening the capacity of communities, families, and individuals to overcome the cumulative ill-effects of social and economic disadvantage (skills and behaviour-based)

No matter which level of intervention is being considered, the potential exists to influence health equity. The resources found on this site can support the integration of health equity objectives across a wide spectrum of program, policy, and practice decisions.

Equity-Sensitive Interventions: Selection Process

Equity-sensitive interventions are identified on the Canadian Best Practices Portal through the assignment of an icon (see above). In addition to meeting the requirements for promising or best practices, these interventions also demonstrate positive impacts on health equity through action on the social determinants of health. New screening criteria were developed, pilot tested and applied to inform the selection process.

An equity-sensitive intervention must have:

  1. shown clear intent to improve outcomes for people living in conditions of disadvantage
  2. reported outcomes of the intervention that distinguish findings for people living in conditions of disadvantage

Interventions that have been identified as equity-sensitive meet the following criteria:

  • people living in conditions of disadvantage are an explicit target population of the intervention or
  • intervention approaches that take into account the underlying conditions of disadvantage to reach diverse groups of people were used and
  • positive outcomes were reported for people living in conditions of disadvantage only or
  • positive outcomes reported compared people living in conditions of disadvantage to people living in more advantaged conditions

Additional Resources

Toward Health Equity: A tool for developing equity-sensitive public health interventions

The practice tool contains guidance on how to apply health equity considerations to policy and program work. It may be used to plan or adapt interventions that seek to minimize inequalities in health arising from differences in social, economic, and/or geographic circumstance. The guidance is made up of a condensed diagram and explanatory text.

Toward Health Equity: A practice tool

The detailed diagram represents a synthesis of theory and practice-based evidence to support the design of equity-sensitive interventions, with a focus on improving healthy weights.

Posts Within Category: Currently displaying best practices 30 to 40 of approximately 70 found within the category.