the existing infrastructure of policies and programs in the education sector for how this infrastructure could be strengthened, modified or expanded to improve health outcomes. Schools can take steps to improve the immediate health and well-being of their students. For example, there are a number of policies and practices at the community level regarding air quality and environmental standards in educational settings. There are widely used guidelines related to physical activity and wellness. In what education administrators might consider student services, there are policies and procedures in place regarding health screening, counselling and mental health services. As part of intergovernmental coordination and cooperation, many local education organizations (e.g., school districts) have established advisory councils, established school clinics, and hired school health coordinators. In the context of curriculum and teaching, there is a wide range of programs that combine education and health, including asthma education; emotional, social and mental health education; Nutrition education; And, of course, physical education. 24 The U.S. Department of Justice directs agencies to ensure that “data and information are collected from applicants for and recipients of sufficient federal assistance to permit the effective application of Title VI.” 28 C.F.R. § 42.406(a). These include, for example: “(1) How services are or will be provided by the relevant program and related data needed to determine whether individuals are or are being denied such services, see Chapter 8 for further discussion of how civil rights laws can support community-based solutions.
The proposed legislative amendments to the legal framework for the provision of social services aim to create a legal basis for testing a new model of community-based social services, which is expected to start in May this year. The criminal justice system plays an important role in achieving health equity through several mechanisms. The first, which is conceptually simple, includes the medical examinations and treatment services that the system provides to adult and juvenile inmates and probation officers. The second is more complex and far-reaching, and includes the set of guidelines that determine whether a person is included in the justice system, for how long, whether alternative sentences are available or not, and how individuals reintegrate into the community after incarceration. These measures have long-term effects on educational attainment, employment and income, all of which have an impact on health. Given that the population in conflict with the law is disproportionate to people of colour and disproportionately includes other vulnerable populations such as people with mental illness, criminal justice policy has important implications for health equity. James, J. 2016. Health Policy Brief: Requirements for Nonprofit Hospitals for Nonprofit Services.
Health Affairshealthaffairs.org/healthpolicybriefs/brief_pdfs/healthpolicybrief_153.pdf (accessed August 8, 2016). Another way to think about promoting community-based strategies to reduce inequalities in education and health is to consider in Chapter 4 the importance of communities and the fact that they are not only the place of change, but also have the capacity to act and leverage their own power and wealth to effect change. However, as this chapter acknowledges, it can be difficult for communities to promote health equity themselves. This chapter describes the impact that policies and laws can have on communities. To support long-term change, it is necessary to address the broader context of issues that influence community efforts and success. Health care and services were separate, and this segregation led to health inequalities in the South before civil rights. Health care and civil rights advocates worked together to achieve reforms that had both moral and material results that benefited both black and non-Hispanic whites. Lawyers for the National Medical Association and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund worked with the U.S. Department of Justice to challenge the Hill-Burton Act`s “separate but equal” provision, which funded separate health services until the early 1960s. In 1963, a federal appeals court struck down “separately but also” under Simkins v.
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital. The court ruled in favor of a class that included African-American doctors, dentists and patients excluded from private, non-Hispanic white hospitals receiving federal funding. The following year, Congress passed Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in response to the March on Washington, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. President Lyndon Johnson, a Southerner, persuaded Southern senators to break the longest filibuster in the nation`s history to pass the law. The federal authorities have issued regulations implementing Title VI of the Act. Congress passed the Medicare Act in 1965, which provided funding for medical services as part of the war on poverty. Medicare funding, combined with the prohibition of discrimination by recipients of federal funds under Title VI, has improved health equity and health outcomes for black and non-Hispanic whites. (Ehlinger, 2015).
The fact is that pursuing the triple bottom line could perpetuate and even exacerbate inequalities if the concept is not expanded to include health equity. Continued emphasis on rewarding health outcomes on average, without rewarding compression of health variability, is likely to encourage interventions targeting healthier and less socially disadvantaged populations to demonstrate improvements. In such a reward system, the differences in health between beneficiary and disadvantaged population groups can become even greater. Specific actions taken by multiple federal and local agencies illustrate how civil rights can be promoted to promote health equity through the planning process described above. The National Park Service (NPS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) used the data-driven systematic planning framework to analyze green access in the Los Angeles area. The NPS and the Corps have concluded the following with respect to health and access to the park: The National Disability Accord is an agreement between the Australian federal, state and territory governments that was introduced in 2009. It focuses on the provision of services to persons with disabilities and commits all levels of government to increasing the number of persons with disabilities in the workforce by five percentage points by 2018.
[44] or create opportunities for communities to promote health equity. The Committee reiterates that to achieve health equity over the long term, action must be taken to create structural barriers and address the root cause of the problem, not just the resulting inequalities.
