AJPH supplement explains the ways meaningful community engagement can reduce chronic disease disparities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Media Relations

AJPH supplement explains the ways meaningful community engagement can reduce chronic disease disparities

Dealing with a chronic disease comes at a price to Americans, as many of these diseases account for a significant majority of health care costs in the U.S. Reducing the burden of these conditions will alleviate suffering, disability, death and economic hardship on families. Proposed funding cuts, the reorganization of HHS and uncertainty around future funding for health care and research are undermining current efforts to improve health outcomes. A new supplement in the American Journal of Public Health explores how a change in approach can eliminate chronic disease disparities and save families money. The article “Meaningful Community Engagement Models to Advance Health Equity and Eliminate Chronic Disease Disparities,” highlights the need to bring more voices to the table to develop feasible and sustainable solutions.

To successfully reduce the burden of chronic conditions on communities and advance health equity, researchers should focus less on the technical arguments against funding cuts and instead make a concerted effort to amplify the concerns of community partners and the real-world stories of impacted individuals. This requires shifting from old strategies on community engagement to taking a bidirectional approach that will strengthen partnerships across sectors that fall outside of large research and academic institutions.

Kim Rhoads, MD, MS, MPH adds, “Nontraditional voices, e.g, community and patient advocates, in traditional spaces (such as) research institutions and projects, are disruptive and motivate the change we need to achieve health equity.”

The sharing of power and aligned missions in the development and execution of impactful research also means acknowledging contributions from all participants.

“Addressing the underlying problems that contribute to the burden of communities means everyone, whether from a community or academic setting, gets to make decisions about the best strategies.  This fosters a stronger foundation, in the face of funding cuts, for feasible and sustainable solutions,” says Pebbles Fagan, PhD, MPH. “Transforming health starts with internal transformation. With that transformation, we can acknowledge what the problems are, then take action to solve them using what we have. At the end of the day, we always have talent.  At the end of the day, we have partnerships. That day always ends in a solution when you have those two things — talent and partnerships.”

You can read the supplement and its findings here.

###

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute On Minority Health And Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24MD017250. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health

###

The American Public Health Association champions optimal, equitable health and well-being for all. With our broad-based member community and 150-year perspective, we influence federal policy to improve the public’s health. Learn more at www.apha.org.