Federal policies to advance health equity: a slideshow

The United States needs new leadership to bolster health care equity for racial, ethnic, and tribal groups that have been underserved for years.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) published “Federal Policy to Advance Racial, Ethnic, and Tribal Health Equity,” a consensus study report. The problem: “Racially and ethnically minoritized populations and tribal communities often face preventable inequities in health outcomes due to structural disadvantages and diminished opportunities around health care, employment, education, and more,” the report said.

Here are four actions and 13 recommendations for national leaders to emphasize health equity, a “state in which everyone has a fair opportunity to attain full health potential and well-being, and no one is disadvantaged from doing so because of social position or any other socially defined circumstance.”

It will take focused and continuing efforts as a society to address inequalities and historical and contemporary injustices. But the work is necessary.

“When individuals thrive, communities and the entire nation thrive,” the report’s introduction said.