Foundations of Health Equity Self-Guided Training Plan
CDC’s Office of Health Equity exists to ensure that health equity is embedded in all our public health work. OHE is pleased to provide the Foundations of Health Equity Training Plan. This self-guided, online training plan is designed to facilitate foundational knowledge and skill development on topics related to health equity, health disparities, and structural and social determinants of health. The training plan contains thirteen, on-demand trainings that cover six health equity-related domains, including organizational policy, infrastructure, communication, community engagement, and racism. The Foundations of Health Equity training plan can benefit individuals who are new to health equity or may want to learn about new concepts and approaches.
The Foundations of Health Equity Training Plan is available on CDC TRAIN. Please note: a CDC TRAIN account is required to access the on-demand trainings. There is no financial cost to open an account.
- Domain 1: Embrace equity as the foundation of organizational commitments, policies, and practices
- Domain 2. Establish and maintain infrastructure to advance equity
- Domain 3. Communicate effectively to advance equity
- Domain 4. Engage communities and mobilize partners to enable effective and sustainable organizational efforts
- Domain 5. Advance health equity in the context of structural and social determinants of health
- Domain 6. Embody anti-racism and anti-oppression in all aspects of the organization and its interventions
Domain 1: Embrace equity as the foundation of organizational commitments, policies, and practices.
Addressing Health Equity: A Public Health Essential
Health disparities vary by wealth/income, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and disability status. In the United States, health disparities are significant and continue to increase between different populations. In addition to describing the complex interplay of social conditions associated with health disparities, this training provides a framework for exploring public and community health strategies to promote health equity.
Domain 2. Establish and maintain infrastructure to advance equity.
Championing Transformative Change to Advance Health Equity
Explore why championing transformative change is key to advancing health equity. This module includes resources to help your health department build internal infrastructure to advance health equity. In addition, health departments will be presented with a set of strategic practices they can take to pursue a wall-to-wall transformation of how they work internally, with communities, and alongside other government agencies.
Promoting Equity in Public Health and the Role of Change Management
This learning module looks at health equity from a “change management” perspective. This module provides learners with insights about how awareness of various concepts can support local public health efforts to take action and move forward on the road to achieving health equity. Learners will be exposed to valuable content about topics linked to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion and see how to facilitate change in a typical public health setting using a case study approach set in the fictitious Tycho County.
Domain 3. Communicate effectively to advance equity.
Communicating Public Health: Message Design Strategies to Promote Awareness and Action to Address the Social Determinants of Health
Discusses how public health advocates can use message framing, narratives and visual imagery to shape public opinion and debate on the social conditions that shape the health and well-being of populations.
Domain 4. Engage communities and mobilize partners to enable effective and sustainable organizational efforts.
Community Engagement: The People’s Approach to Improving Health and Social Outcomes
This course focuses on community engagement, and the role of local health departments in engaging local communities. It also provides an overview of case studies, best practices and strategies for community dialogue and engagement and/or integrating community engagement in public health practice.
Transforming the Narrative: Health Equity and the Community
This is a Narrative Change training and toolkit designed to complement the narrative change work being done in communities every day and, in the process, help create more opportunities to achieve health equity. The goal of the toolkit is to offer a frame to develop more justice-rooted language.
The Health Equity and Prevention Primer (HEPP)
A training series for public health practitioners and advocates interested in achieving health, safety, and health equity through policy advocacy, community change, and multi-sector engagement.
Domain 5. Advance health equity in the context of structural and social determinants of health.
From Concepts to Practice: Health Equity, Health Inequities, Health Disparities, and Social Determinants of Health
Discusses key concepts, including health equity, health inequities, health disparities, and social determinants of health. Covers appropriate strategies that public health professionals can use to address health disparities and social determinants of health to achieve health equity and the importance of using strategies to advance health equity.
What Are Social Determinants of Health?
Defines social and structural determinants of health, discusses how social and structural determinants of health impact health outcomes, and describes the relationship between social and structural determinants of health and health inequities and disparities.
Health Equity & Environmental Justice 101
This training aims to increase awareness and knowledge of the basic principles of health equity and environmental justice. By the end of the training, you should have a better understanding of how these concepts relate and can be applied to their work.
Domain 6. Embody anti-racism and anti-oppression in all aspects of the organization and its interventions.
Roots of Health Inequity
Address systemic differences in health and wellness that are, actionable, unfair, and unjust. Examine the importance of class structure, racism, and gender inequity in the development of health inequities.
How to be anti-racist in the everyday practice of public health
Each day, we have opportunities to fight racism and bias in our work in public health. From our hiring practices to microaggressions that occur in internal meetings to the data we collect to the policies we influence, enact, and enforce — racism and bias impact all facets of public health. Studies show that this ultimately causes a negative impact on health outcomes and hinders our efforts to reduce racial inequities in health.
Implicit Bias: The Influence of your Unconscious Mind
This is an online e-learning program that will introduce the learner to the existence and effects of implicit bias. It is meant as a prep course for further bias mitigation training.