Multnomah County's Health Equity Initiative is kicking off next month in an effort to reduce local health disparities based on race and ethnicity. Here's the gist:
The County is committed to improving health for all residents by addressing the social conditions in which people live and work. Launched in June 2007, the Health Equity Initiative is a county-wide effort focusing on health inequities, headed by Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler and Multnomah County Health Department. It also collaborates with local organizations to support policy change and monitor results. The initial work will be completed in June 2009.
The Initiative has three goals - the first will start up in March:
- Create a common understanding of the causes of and solutions to health inequities, with a focus on justice and equity.
- Raise the visibility of current disparities elimination efforts of community-based organizations and county departments.
- Explore and advance policy solutions to address health inequities.
The county's work to create a common understanding is happening through a structured community dialog stemming from the PBS documentary series, Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us All Sick? Here's a quick overview of the series from its makers:
The U.S. is one of the richest countries on the planet. Yet, we rank 29th in the world for life expectancy, among the worst in the industrialized world - and even lower than some poor countries like Costa Rica and Chile. What’s happening to our health? UNNATURAL CAUSES will, for the first time on television, sound the alarm about America's glaring socio-economic and racial inequities in health - and search for root causes.
The four-hour series (slated for PBS broadcast beginning March 27 and a March 2008 DVD release) sifts through the evidence to discover there is much more to our health than bad habits, health care, or unlucky genes. The social conditions in which we are born, live and work profoundly affect our health and longevity.
Interested? Great. The county will show the series one per week at a bunch of Multnomah Coutnty libraries in March & April. I know, I know, a lifetime away. But if you actually want to get the full picture on this issue, and enage in this simultaneous, community-wide consciousness raising, now's the time to get it on the calendar.
I'm gonna try to hit the Central Library screenings @ noon on Mondays for the seven weeks it runs (lunch hour!). Check out the county's screening calendar to see which library and time might work for you. You can preview the film first and see if it's for you.
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