Delegates attending the afternoon Regatta Room session entitled “A Health Equity Assessment Framework for Ontario’s Public Health Units,” were offered a sneak peek at a new model for assessing planned and existing policies and programs. They also had a chance to put the framework through its paces with two case studies: a strategy to prevent childhood obesity and a harm-reduction strategy for users of illicit drugs.
The trio of presenters – Brian Hyndman, Ingrid Tyler, and Daniela Seskar-Hencic – introduced the new framework and contextualized it within the World Health Organization definitions of “health equity” and “health inequalities,” the Ontario Public Health Standards (OPHS) Foundational Standards (2008), and the commitment to equity contained in the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion’s founding legislation.
The equity assessment framework comprises four steps, each with its own series of questions and issues for consideration. Public health professionals can employ a variety of recommended processes – including a literature review, environmental scan, analysis of existing data and consultation with stakeholders – to determine the scope of their assessments and answer the questions posed within the framework.
The delegates conducted small-group discussions, using the framework to assess the strategies outlined in the case studies. A lively follow-up discussion with the group as a whole yielded positive feedback and constructive criticism on the framework itself and the means by which it might be field-tested in the future.
“Public health units need to be fully aware of the composition of the communities they serve, including those groups at greatest risk of poor health outcomes,” noted a handout distributed at the session. The new equity assessment framework is a work-in-progress that should prove useful in maintaining an awareness of equity-related concerns at all stages of the policy and/or program development and review process.
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