Promoting health equity

Abstract

To many of us who work in health, health promotion and health equity are natural travelling companions. What could be more closely aligned than the community development and advocacy intentions of health promotion, and the social justice focus of health equity? In our work, however, we are surrounded by numerous examples where, despite our best intentions, health promotion interventions have widened health inequities. In this chapter we look closely at the relationship between health promotion and health equity. Many people reading this book will be more familiar with health promotion than health equity, and so relatively more of this chapter is spent defining, understanding and contextualising health equity. Following this introduction, we examine the challenge of undertaking health promotion while keeping health equity firmly in mind, using examples from important health promotion challenges that have been the focus of our attention during the last decades. We review how health promotion can impact health equity unintentionally and negatively, and formulate a plan for assessing health promotion activities against health equity standards. Finally, we note the changing political landscape for both health equity and health promotion, and reflect on what this means for the way we practise health promotion into the future.