What is Health Equity and How illuminAid Fights Inequities Locally and Abroad
What is Health Equity?
Health equity is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a state where every person has access to the highest quality of health, giving special attention to those faced with unavoidable differences in socioeconomic status, demographics, and geographical barriers. Inequities emerge when one group of people has a systemic disadvantage compared to another group of people (National Academy of Sciences, 2017). Contrary to popular belief, health is often shaped less by individual choices and more by social, economic, and environmental conditions, also known as the social determinants of health. The allocation of power and resources are the ultimate determinants of one’s health status. Other root causes include race, gender, and sexual orientation. To present a clear example of what a health inequity looks like, consider this example:
Motorbike Ambulance in South Sudan
John lives in a small village in Sub-Saharan Africa. He is hours away from the nearest local hospital. (Sad fact: over 75% of the population of South Sudan live over 2 hours away from the nearest hospital). In the event of an emergency or need for medical care, there is extremely limited transportation and access to care. What is the health inequity in this situation? John’s severely limited access to healthcare causes an immense disadvantage to reach his healthiest potential.
Obstacles like this prevent individuals and communities from life-saving essential care such as immunizations, preventative healthcare, nutritious foods, water, basic sanitation, etc. At its core, illuminAid’s mission is to eliminate these obstacles by creating opportunities for both local and international communities to live healthier lives through access to information--delivered by battery-powered video.
Health Inequities Worldwide
illuminAid workshop in Coban, Guatemala 2014
It’s no secret that poverty stretches far outside the United States, and even more so in developing countries, driving the urgent need to fight health inequities abroad. Many of the countries that illuminAid works with face starvation, minimal healthcare, absence of education for children, and no running water or basic sanitation. Preventative healthcare is a key factor to help remove health inequities and save lives in countries with sparse resources.
To name a few, illuminAid implemented workshops in countries such as Guatemala to focus on malnutrition and family planning. In Guatemala, almost one million children under five suffer from malnutrition. Poverty is rampant and the Guatemalan government only spends 2.4% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on health, leaving millions without care (USAID, 2018). By partnering with Mercy Corps and WINGS, illuminAid was able to deliver a 4-day training workshop that left a long-lasting impact on the indigenous Mayan communities living in Coban, Guatemala. The locally-made videos that were created promoted the use of intrauterine devices (IUDs) and reproductive healthcare, nutrition, and hygiene practices.
illuminAid workshop in Monrovia, Liberia 2016
In Liberia, the Ebola outbreak of 2014 created a demand for improved health communication practices and led the WHO to rethink their approach to public health communication. WHO and illuminAid teamed up to influence public opinion on health practices, including safe birthing practices and the importance of immunization. Using interviews with local healthcare professionals and testimonials from mothers, WHO created videos that work to influence behavior change within standard health practices. By influencing behavior change, illuminAid and WHO fought chronic health inequities that communities in Liberia faced. On the surface level, these videos offer viewers a direct example of the target behavior and the positive outcomes one can gain from adopting it. On an even deeper level, the content of these videos is working to undo the traditional ways of thinking that prohibit positive change, such encouraging women to choose to give birth in a hospital rather than at home.
With a holistic and long-lasting approach to spreading accurate information with tools that don’t need access to the internet or other electricity, anything is possible. One project at a time, one country at a time, health inequities must be eliminated. illuminAid speaks for the communities that have no voice. Video production plays a key role in ensuring communities get the information they need to survive and improve their lives for a brighter future.
Health Inequities in California and the US
In California, homelessness is an immense factor for the high percentage of Californians experiencing health inequities. The inability to access vital resources such as food, shelter, and healthcare creates detrimental health inequities within the homeless population. In January 2019, there were a reported 151,278 total homeless people in the state. Every day, thousands of people are forced to sleep in freezing conditions, go days without eating or drinking, and question their safety.
Research conducted in the International Journal of Environmental Health and Public Safety identified six major inequities that the homeless population suffer from. These include a shorter life expectancy, higher morbidity rates, greater use of emergency hospital services, hospitalization for preventable conditions, less use of preventative health services, and increased risk of disease (Stafford and Wood, 2017). Almost a year into the global COVID-19 pandemic, these risks have only been exacerbated.
UnshelteredTV filming in Chico, CA 2020
When the pandemic hit, illuminAid realized the equipment we use internationally could be used to help the local homeless population that is directly affected by a lack of information and misinformation. The illuminAid team found a unique way to reach the local homeless community with an initiative called UnshelteredTV. In the summer of 2020, UnshelteredTV brought its pilot project into action to create COVID-19 prevention, messaging on topics like social distancing, mask wearing, locations for treatment, and how to stay healthy and hydrated to disseminate to the homeless population around the city of Chico, CA. This big step has brought forth opportunities to expand and spread knowledge about all sorts of topics that can benefit the homeless population. Breaking down barriers to this vital information is the first step in fighting health inequities.
A specific health inequity that homeless people face is an increased risk of disease. Because those experiencing homelessness have limited or no access to televisions or internet, they don't always have up-to-date information. With COVID-19, for example, there was much misinformation about the virus, how it worked, and how dangerous it was. Lack of information and misinformation leads to the increased risk of COVID-19 spreading in homeless encampments. UnshelteredTV breaks down this knowledge barrier by bringing accurate information to those experiencing homelessness and using videos displayed on battery-powered projectors. On the videos, a trusted local contact or previously homeless person shared important information on the virus. In doing so, people watching the video could get the information from a trusted or reliable source, which increases the chance of positive behavioral change.