7 things advocates should know when communicating about health equity
By: Katherine Schaff, Berkeley Media Studies Group
Like many people in public health, I’m part of multiple social circles and sometimes find myself in situations where public health, especially health equity, isn’t the typical conversation topic. Inevitably someone always asks me: So, what is it you do for work?
For many years, I struggled to answer this question. Because I wanted to convey my passion for creating the type of society that supports health for everyone, my answer would range from an angry diatribe about some policy issue to a long-winded account of every article I had ever read on the underlying social, political, and economic injustices that cause people in some communities to live shorter, sicker lives than those in other communities. Needless to say, this didn’t get me too far…
…How can we emphasize the importance of equity in the stories we tell about health? And how can we use these stories to help create communities where everyone has the opportunity to be healthy?…
- We have to know what we want to change.
- Communication should be incorporated from the start.
- Effective communication is collaborative — and flips the script on power.
- Logic alone won’t win the day.
- We have to talk about racism and white privilege.
- There are low-cost ways to integrate communication into our work.
- We can all take steps to improve our communication every day.
Read the full article here.
