Bringing Urban HEART to the United States: The Results of Six Pilot Health Equity Assessments
Abstract
The following proposal aligns with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation call for ‘Global Ideas for US Solutions” by using an internationally used tool by the WHO and adapting it for the United States. The tool fosters... [ view full abstract ]
The following proposal aligns with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation call for ‘Global Ideas for US Solutions” by using an internationally used tool by the WHO and adapting it for the United States. The tool fosters collaborations between communities, government and research institutions and provides evidence to guide strategies for promoting urban health equity.
Introduction: The Urban Health Equity Assessment and Response Tool (Urban HEART)1 was developed by the WHO to help communities, organizations, and government agencies identify and address urban health inequities within cities. The comprehensive tool is designed to enable cross-sector collaboration and evidence-based decision-making to promote health equity. Since its release in 2008, over 100 cities in 53 countries have used or are using Urban HEART. This pilot study adapts and applies Urban HEART to better understand urban inequities in six American cities.
Methods: Master of Public Health students at the University of Michigan used Urban HEART to identify and characterize health inequities in Baltimore, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Saint Louis. Taking context into account, secondary data was collected and used to evaluate health equity for each city based on relevant indicators and benchmarks across five policy domains: physical environment and infrastructure; social and human development; economic opportunity; governance; and population health.
Results: For each city, the students created matrices summarizing the city’s performance for each indicator across the domains. Based on these matrices, healthy equity issues were prioritized and a technical report was developed highlighting a response plan.
Conclusions: This pilot study established the feasibility of using Urban HEART to assess health equity and prioritize policies to reduce inequities in cities across the United States. It also demonstrated the usefulness and effectiveness of Urban HEART as a tool for graduate-level public health training and capacity building.
Authors
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Abigail Schachter
(Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan)
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Roshanak Mehdipanah
(University of Michigan)
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Amit Prasad
(Department of Information, Evidence and Research, WHO Geneva)
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HBHEHED 624 Students
(Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, School of Public Health, University of Michigan)
Topic Areas
II. Environmental Health 2.1 Disease mapping 2.2 Assessment of the impact of environmental , I. Urbanization AND Health: what interactions? 1.1 New paradigms, concepts, methods, and t , II. Urban Health at the intersection of urban environment, social determinants and places , IV. Urbanism, Health and Wellbeing 4.1 Built environment 4.2 Pollution: air, noise, etc , VI. Research and action 6.1 Collaboration; interaction of researchers; stakeholders 6.2 S , VII. Urban health policies 7.1 Governance and policy frameworks 7.2 Health in all policies , VIII. Academic and professional education and training for urban health 8.1 Prerequisite a
Session
WHO-UH » WHO II - Urban Heart (08:00 - Monday, 4th April, TBA)
Paper
Schachteretal-ICUH2016Abstract.docx
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