HEALTH EQUITY & COMMUNITY HEALTH PUBLICATIONS

• Prevention Institute Articles

• Prevention Institute Reports

• Other Publications Featuring Prevention Institute
  NEW Addressing Health Disparities

Prevention Institute Articles

Community Health: A Critical Approach to Addressing Chronic Disease (PDF)

October 2007

Published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's peer-reviewed journal, Preventing Chronic Disease, this article explores social determinants of health in the broad context in which communities operate.  Also available online.

A Community Resilience Approach to Reducing Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Health (PDF)

February 2002

The American Journal of Public Health published this article by Rachel Davis, MSW, Danice Cook, BA and Larry Cohen, MSW of Prevention Institute in its December 2005 issue (Vol 95, No. 12).  The article summarizes the THRIVE tool and its demonstrated utility in urban, rural, and suburban settings.

California Plots Strategy to End Health Disparities (PDF)

February 2004

This article appeared in the February 2004 issue of The Nation's Health.

Comprehensive Prevention: Improving Health Outcomes through Practice

March/April 2000

Published in Minority Health Today, this article examines the role of prevention in reducing health disparities and improving health outcomes.

Prevention Institute Reports

NEW Restructuring Government to Address Social Determinants of Health

February 2008  

Establishing a health system that addresses underlying determinants of health - the community factors in the social and physical environments that are the most influential contributors to the nation’s poor health outcomes - will require bold steps.  Based on a 2008 meeting convened by Prevention Institute and Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), Restructuring Government to Address Social Determinants of Health highlights options from government officials, community advocates, and researchers for improving our nation’s health.  To see the full set of recommendations and to learn more about the convening, click here.

Good Health Counts: A 21st Century Approach to Health and Community for California

November 2007

What makes a community healthy?  Good Health Counts: A 21st Century Approach to Health and Community for California synthesizes findings from nearly 100 community report cards and indicator reports from throughout the country and broadens understanding of all the elements that contribute to community health.  The report, prepared by Prevention Institute with funding from The California Endowment, helps make the connection between factors in the environment - including equitable opportunities, strong social ties, the ability to buy healthy foods, perceptions of safety to walk or play in the park, and affordable, quality medical services - and their impact on health.

Healthy Eating & Physical Activity: Addressing Inequities in Urban Environments

May 2007

On January 11-12, 2006 Prevention Institute convened From Pilots to Practice: Maximizing the impact of efforts to improve access to healthy food and safe places for physical activity in low-income communities. Funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The California Endowment, the convening brought together 19 community advocates and  academics from across the country to discuss strategies for improving nutrition and activity environments on a neighborhood level and how to best achieve large scale sustainability of these improvements. The resulting document, authored by Prevention Institute, provides guidance for fostering the growing momentum around improving nutrition and physical activity environments in socially and economically disadvantaged urban communities.

Disparity Reducing Advances Project: Laying the Groundwork for a Movement to Reduce Health Disparities (PDF)

April 2007

This second report Prevention Institute authored for the Institute for Alternative Futures’ Disparities Reducing Advances project analyzes what is currently going on nationally to address health disparities and what we can learn from successful social movements. The report concludes with a description of what needs to be put in place in order to build the momentum necessary to substantially reduce disparities: political will, a refined conceptual approach, strategy/roadmap, engaged sectors and defined roles, and leadership/coordination.

Disparity Reducing Advances Project: The Imperative of Reducing Health Disparities Through Prevention: Challenges, Implications, and Opportunities (PDF)

October 2006

With support from the Institute for Alternative Futures, Prevention Institute prepared this report outlining promising approaches and next steps for reducing health disparities. The presented approach to reducing health disparities focuses on the way that fundamental causes of inequality (e.g., economics and oppression) shape community environments. Community environments in turn shape behaviors such as eating and activity patterns, tobacco and alcohol use, and violence and improving these environments represents a tremendous opportunity for promoting community wellbeing. This report presents a conceptual framework and discusses 10 key strategies for improving environments, many of which have not previously been applied to disparities reduction: Primary prevention, Community factors, Built environment, Sustainable agriculture, Economic development, Norms change, Community-based participatory efforts, Comprehensive approaches, Interdisciplinary collaboration, and Community resilience.

Eliminating Health Disparities: The Role of Primary Prevention (PDF)

February 2002

A paper describing how health disparities can be reduced through systems-based prevention strategies that address the underlying factors influencing health.

Health For All: California's Strategic Approach to Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (PDF) - Executive Summary (PDF)

November 2003

The California Strategic Approach delineates how the resources of diverse governmental and private institutions can be marshaled to work with communities to make significant progress towards eliminating health disparities in California. It illuminates the critical pathways that affect health and the key points for intervention to ensure health for all.

Strengthening Communities: A Prevention Framework for Eliminating Health Disparities (PDF)

This paper sheds light on the environmental conditions that hold the most promise for reducing health disparities in low-income, communities of color. In particular, they delineate four clusters comprising 20 community factors that can contribute to, or prevent, health disparities.

THRIVE: Community Tool for Health & Resilience In Vulnerable Environments Executive Summary (PDF)

A toolkit to help communities identify and foster factors in the community environment that will improve health outcomes and reduce disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities.

Traffic Safety in Communities of Color

November 2003

This paper highlights major traffic safety needs within specific communities of color, and concludes that ongoing data collection and analysis are necessary to provide a clearer, more complete picture of the issue as well as to inform interventions and efforts targeted toward these communities. More research is needed to understand past traffic safety successes (such as the decreases in impaired driving or increases in seat belt use that have occurred across ethnic groups) so that these successes can be extended. Similarly, evaluations of current interventions are greatly needed, particularly for comprehensive and longitudinal studies. Finally, there is also a need for research that distinguishes the effects of ethnicity versus the effects of socioeconomic status on traffic safety outcomes.

Other Publications Featuring Prevention Institute

NEW Addressing Health Disparities (PDF)

2008 (Issue I)

Connections, a publication of the Association of California Healthcare Districts (ACHD), featured an article on inequities in health based on a presentation given by Prevention Institute Program Director, Manal Aboelata during the ACHD Annual Meeting.

Dwelling Disparities: How Poor Housing Leads to Poor Health (PDF)

May 2005

The peer-reviewed journal of the United States' National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), featured The Built Environment and Health: 11 Profiles of Neighborhood Transformation in their May 2005 Environews Focus article.

California Launches New Public Health Department

July 25, 2007

California Healthline, a daily digest of news, policy and opinion from the California HealthCare Foundation, quotes Prevention Institute executive director, Larry Cohen, regarding the potential value of a differentiated Department of Public Health.

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