Health Equity Intervention and Action Principles

At a glance

To advance health equity and achieve optimal health for all populations.

Woman presenting in office meeting.

Description

The Office of Health Equity (OHE) is working to implement intervention and action principles to strengthen the organizational infrastructure, capacity, and program processes to ensure consistent and effective progress is made toward achieving health equity.

OHE developed seven overarching principles to motivate and inform actions to advance health equity. These seven overarching principles are:

  • Embrace equity as foundational.
  • Embody anti-racism and anti-oppression.
  • Establish and maintain infrastructure.
  • Communicate effectively.
  • Engage communities and mobilize partners.
  • Address structural and social determinants of health.
  • Apply equitable evaluation approaches.

The Health Equity Intervention and Action Principles outline critical areas of focus and consideration for organizations to strengthen their structure, processes, and programs to advance equity. These principles are based on best practices and lessons learned in the design and implementation of effective interventions for communities that have been marginalized. They are designed to allow leaders across multiple sectors to apply these principles in intervention development and implementation to advance health equity while minimizing harm.

Early Impact

The Office of Health Equity curated a suite of online, on-demand trainings guided by the Health Equity Intervention and Action Principles. The training plan is designed to strengthen foundational knowledge of health equity, structural and social determinants of health, health disparities, and more. The trainings will be available on CDC TRAIN to CDC staff and other public health professionals who are new to health equity or may want to learn about new concepts and approaches.