This March, PBS will be airing UNNATURAL CAUSES, a landmark four-hour documentary series by California Newsreel that sheds light on the increasing evidence that community factors such as work, wealth, neighborhood conditions, and lack of access to power and resources deeply affect health. Race and income not only influence one’s ability to get medical care, but also the chance that one may get sick in the first place. For the first time on television, the reasons why there are gaps in health are explored, with a look at how one’s social environment may be just as important as their genes or whether or not they smoke. The take-home message from this documentary is that if disease is largely determined by the social environment, then by changing this environment we can prevent illness from occurring in the first place.

 

  For viewers inspired to take action after watching the documentary, Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments is a coalition of nutrition and physical activity advocates working to address some of the issues raised in UNNATURAL CAUSES. The Strategic Alliance is shifting the focus on personal responsibility and individual choice to one that examines corporate and government practices and the role of the environment in shaping how healthily one eats and how active they are. Strategic Alliance places an emphasis on health equity, with a focus on these issues in low-income communities and communities of color. The coalition focuses on five key areas for change efforts: children’s environments, government, industry practices, the health care system, and media. Though Strategic Alliance is based in California, its work has national implications and serves as a model for other states. The concept of prevention is central to Strategic Alliance’s work – changing social conditions and addressing the root causes of health and disease is a strategy to promote wellness and prevent illness from occurring in the first place.

TOOLS:

In addition to the coalition’s statewide advocacy efforts, the Strategic Alliance provides free, web-based tools for providers and the general public to change food and activity environments in their own communities. The Environmental Nutrition and Activity Community Tool (ENACT) provides a menu of strategies in seven key local environments (i.e. schools, childcare, after-school, workplace, healthcare, community, and government) that can be implemented at the local level to make concrete, positive changes to prevent illness. The ENACT Local Policy Database catalogues promising local policies nationwide to serve as models for success and facilitates networking among local policymakers. Used in combination, these tools provide an excellent starting point for anyone looking to make a meaningful, tangible impact on the health of their community.

                       

Prevention Institute created the Tool for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE) for advocates and members of vulnerable communities to help them understand the factors within their own communities that can help improve health and safety. The tool identifies 13 social/environmental factors and provides information about how each factor is related to health outcomes, some direction about what to do to address the factor, and where to go for more information. Since every community has different needs and concerns and cannot address all of these factors simultaneously, THRIVE helps communities identify which factors are their highest priorities and effective strategies to address these.

 

Other Organizations:

Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative

Children’s Defense Fund

Children Now

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

PolicyLink

Healthy Places Coalition (coming soon!)

Health Impact Assessment

Human Impact Partners  

Joint Center Health Policy Institute

National Association of County and City Health Officials (NAACHO)

Pan Ethnic Health Network

Partnership for Working Families

Strategic Actions for a Just Economy

Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth Through Violence Prevention (UNITY)

 

Other Resources:

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

More Coming Soon!