Selected Achievements and Milestones in CDC’s Efforts to “Bake In” Health Equity

1915

Photo: National Negro Health News Volume 1, Number 2, NAID 7586131

National Negro Health Week begins in response to disturbing findings by the Tuskegee Institute that highlighted the poor health status of African Americans in the early part of the 20th Century. The U. S. Public Health Service instituted this in order to improve the health status of the black population by educating members of the community, providing greater access to healthcare, and encouraging an increased number of black professionals in the field of public health.

1988

CDC’s Office of Minority Health was established under the direction of Dr. Rueben Warren.

1994

David Satcher, MD, PhD (CDC director, 1993-1998) establishes CDC’s Office of Women’s Health and designates women’s health issues as one of the agency’s four priority areas. This was in response to the Women’s Health Equity Act of 1993 and CDC’s 1993 Priorities for Women’s Health, a report detailing the agency’s efforts to address issues affecting the health of women. While bringing attention to women’s health, the report also highlighted the need for a coordinated approach to identify and respond to gaps in information pertaining to women’s health issues.

2001

HHS establishes the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care (National CLAS Standards) which aims to improve health care quality and advance health equity by establishing a framework for organizations to serve the nation’s increasingly diverse communities.

2005

CDC establishes the Health Disparities Subcommittee, which provides counsel to the CDC Director on CDC’s efforts to address health disparities in achieving the agency’s overarching health impact goals. This committee is important because it supports the development of specific health disparity objectives, performance indicators, and agency priorities and advocates for action on health disparities. This committee also provides guidance on opportunities for CDC to work with other sectors.

2007

The National Leadership Summit for Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities led to the development of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities.

2010

CDC’s Office of Women’s Health is codified into law through United States Code Title 42.

2011

Dr. Leandris Liburd becomes the director of what became known as CDC’s Office of Health Equity (OHE).

2011

OHE establishes the CDC Undergraduate Public Health Scholars (CUPS) Program to support the public health workforce with the health equity competencies and diversity needed to effectively address health inequities.

2011

HHS launches the National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity and the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.

2012

OHE launches Conversations in Equity, a blog devoted to increasing awareness of health inequities and promoting national, state, and local efforts to reduce health disparities and achieve health equity.

2013

OHE celebrates 25 years. As part of the commemoration, CDC’s David J. Sencer Museum exhibited Health Is a Human Right: Race and Place in America. The exhibit interprets minority health issues in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and illustrates the social determinants of health through photographs, documents, data charts, books, public health promotional materials, media, and artifacts. The exhibit is available to view online through Georgia State University.

2015

CDC releases first national study on Hispanic health risks and leading causes of death in the U.S.

2017

CDC reports 25 percent drop in African-American death rate in African American Health Vital Signs.

2018

In 2018 the Office of Health Equity (OHE) celebrates 30 years of service. Since 1988, CDC has focused on reducing health disparities and ensuring a culturally competent public health workforce. The theme for the 30^th anniversary commemoration is Mission: Possible. We believe “healthy lives for everyone” is possible and a goal that resonates in public health. Read more about addressing the needs of vulnerable populations during disasters.

2021

The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the need for public health data, tools and actionable frameworks that reach disproportionally affected, historically marginalized and/or racialized populations during crises. Project REFOCUS is conceptualized as an applied socioecological surveillance, community-informed and data-to-action approach to address these challenges and leads the way for ongoing OHE projects to build community-engaged data-to-action and monitoring systems (Note: Project REFOCUS is in phase 2 ending in 2023).

2021

The Health Equity in Action web page is launched to showcase the CDC-funded COVID-19 projects that prioritize populations disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The page has since expanded to include a broad range of health equity projects and initiatives among community-based partners.

2023

OHE celebrates 35 years of service, or “baking” health equity into our work at CDC. “Baking in” health equity means that health equity principles are foundational ingredients in our work, rather than separate ingredients we layer in, sprinkle on top, or serve on the side.