NYAM’s Action Agenda for Health Equity: Building Access & Sharing Power

NYAM’s Action Agenda for Health Equity:
Building Access & Sharing Power

Today, as the global pandemic continues to rage on, we are witnessing COVID-19’s seemingly relentless toll on the health and economic well-being of individuals, families and communities.  Especially hard hit are communities of color. The pandemic has laid bare the inequities— furthered by a 400-year legacy of systemic racism—that have created poor health outcomes for millions. NYAM is responding to this public health crisis with the passion and unique know-how of our long-standing institutional expertise.

Addressing inequities is not new for us and remains the centerpiece of our mission. With nearly 175 years of leadership in improving public health and addressing disparities, NYAM’s drive to attain health equity in pursuit of a healthier world for all has never been more vital. Because health equity is unequivocally tied to systemic racism, we are duty-bound, and fully embrace, addressing social justice issues to achieve our vision where everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy life.

CDC statistics show that Black and Latinx individuals in the United States are nearly three times more likely to be infected and twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as white individuals. And in New York City, Black and Latinx residents combined represent 62% of deaths but only 51% of the population. These numbers are unjust and reflective of deep systemic inequities that NYAM is dedicated to changing.

The crisis brought on by COVID-19, compounded by the public outcry over the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, has fueled the nationwide demand for racial justice and meaningful change. Once and for all.

Moving forward, we plan to do this work in new ways that will also address systemic racism. Ways that build access and share power for individuals and communities whose voices have not been heard and whose influence has not been fully realized.

Building ACCESS
Because of ingrained structural inequities that discriminate against people of color, immigrants and those experiencing poverty, these populations face significant barriers to an array of necessary resources, leading to poorer health outcomes.

Sharing POWER
Because research that informs policy is often not inclusive of those community members who are studied by scholars, even when they are the subjects under investigation. Such work further institutionalizes the longstanding and inequitable power structures that exist.

Our new Health Equity Action Agenda is designed to shift inequitable access and re-center power to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy life.

In doing this work, NYAM will also continue looking inward to ensure our own organizational practices and policies meet the highest standards to be a credible advocate for changes in policy, resource allocation, public opinion and cultural mindset. We will continue our ongoing efforts to further diversify our organization, to ensure that our practices and policies promote an inclusive culture, and to always be open to a broad range of perspectives and lived experiences.

Highlights of our Agenda, which will focus on building access and sharing power, and furthering our COVID-19 initiatives already underway, include the following.

A New Network for a New Future
Ensure a diversity of experiences, expertise and perspectives to disrupt common thinking patterns, bolster the influence of our work and lead to meaningful change.

We will assemble a cadre of diverse scholars and researchers of color to build the health equity knowledge base that will drive policies that promote change. One of the first initiatives of this new network will be to explore building a Health Equity Index that measures the opportunity for health in communities across the U.S. As we have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, data can influence policy decisions and resource allocation. This work can supply the data needed to assist policymakers in developing and implementing action plans that shift power and access in a more equitable way.

Elevating Voices for Change
Create opportunities for inclusion and sharing of power.

Our work will be informed by the voices of people who are underrepresented, including local community members. The launch of a Community Program Advisory Board—to inform, review and endorse research, community engagement and public programming initiatives—will ensure our work is relevant and addresses issues best known by those with lived experience.

Backing Learning with Action
Provide a physical space for community gatherings to strengthen individual and collective capacity for health and well-being.

We will further strengthen our focus on community engagement centered on learning, sharing and taking action. We will build our COVID-19 response including the launch of new public programing, planning for a new interactive learning center at our historic Museum Mile building in East Harlem, and an engaging mentorship program for young professionals on the front lines. Through these efforts we will focus on health inequities and their underlying contributing social factors magnified by the coronavirus.

Now is the time to redouble our efforts to create a better way forward, but we can’t do this work alone. We hope you will join us in this effort to build a more equitable and healthier world for all.

Judith A. Salerno, MD, MS

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