Policy Approaches to Advancing Health Equity

In Brief Public health policy approaches have demonstrated measurable improvements in population health. Yet, “one-size-fits-all” approaches do not necessarily impact all populations equally and, in some cases, can widen existing disparities. It has been argued that interventions, including policy interventions, can have the greatest impact when they target the social determinants of health. The intent of this article was to describe how selected current policies and policy areas that have a health equity orientation are being used with the aim of reducing health disparities and to illustrate contemporary approaches that can be applied broadly to a variety of program areas to advance health equity. Applying a health equity lens to a Health in All Policies approach is described as a means to develop policies across sectors with the explicit goal of improving health for all while reducing health inequities. Health equity impact assessment is described as a tool that can be effective in prospectively building health equity into policy planning. The discussion suggests that eliminating health inequities will benefit from a deliberate focus on health equity by public health agencies working with other sectors that impact health outcomes. This article describes selected current policies and policy areas with a health equity orientation that are being used to reduce health disparities and illustrates contemporary approaches that can be applied to various program areas to advance health equity.