Moving Health Education and Behavior Upstream: Lessons From COVID-19 for Addressing Structural Drivers of Health Inequities

Abstract

<jats:p> In this Perspective, we build on social justice and emancipatory traditions within the field of health education, and the field’s long-standing commitment to building knowledge and shared power to promote health equity, to examine lessons and opportunities for health education emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining patterns that emerged as the pandemic unfolded in Metropolitan Detroit, with disproportionate impacts on African American and low-income communities, we consider conditions that contributed to excess exposure, mortality, and reduced access to critical health protective resources. Using a life course framework, we consider enduring impacts of the pandemic for health equity. Finally, we suggest several strategic actions in three focal areas—environment, occupation, and housing—that can be taken by health educators working in partnership with community members, researchers, and decision makers, using, for example, a community-based participatory research approach, to reduce adverse impacts of COVID-19 and promote long-term equity in health. </jats:p>

Weathering in Detroit: Place, Race, Ethnicity, and Poverty as Conceptually Fluctuating Social Constructs Shaping Variation in Allostatic Load

“…Engaging with community partners who have linkages to ongoing social movements and decision makers creates opportunities to work collaboratively to address fundamental drivers of health inequities. Community‐led movements for worker protections, housing rights, and environmental justice address underlying structural determinants as they are manifest on a local level, influencing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic equity 1,2,108,109 . Examples include Vital Brooklyn, 110 a New York state initiative emphasizing “wellness‐based” economic and environmental development.…”

“…Community-led movements for worker protections, housing rights, and environmental justice address underlying structural determinants as they are manifest on a local level, influencing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic equity. 1,2,108,109 Examples include Vital Brooklyn, 110 a New York state initiative emphasizing "wellness-based" economic and environmental development. The program works in concert with local anchor institutions, community agencies, and labor unions to improve material living conditions in central Brooklyn and enhance equity across the domains of education, housing, workforce development, public safety, health, and health care.…”

Strategies to Address COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy and Mitigate Health Disparities in Minority Populations

“…living, and environmental conditions (1). While some states successfully contained early waves of COVID-19, the policies, institutions and cultural forces responsible for underlying systemic racial-ethnic inequities remain and threaten to find new expression as states carry out unprecedented mass-vaccination campaigns (2,3). Beyond the enormously complex logistical task of distributing and safely storing millions of doses of vaccine, each state must simultaneously take steps to address vaccine hesitancy.…”

The Impact of Unplanned School Closures on Adolescent Behavioral Health During the Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

“…Another issue which contributes to worsening stress levels and mental well-being is the problem of limited house space. With quarantine and movement control orders disruption reaching into every facet of daily life, from employment to education to grocery shopping to socializing, multiple family members are having to live together in small living spaces, as they are unable to leave freely ( 4 ). For students from low social economic status, this situation will leave a bigger impact on how they live their lives on daily basis.…”