Health & Equity in All Policies a Focus of OPHA’s Work
Since 2015, OPHA has adopted Health and Equity in All Policies (HEiAP) as an organizational value and formed a HEiAP Committee to address poor health outcomes and social inequities in Ohio. Progress toward introducing legislation for HEiAP in Senate Bill 302 ended with the close of the 132nd General Assembly, but OPHA is currently working to define its next steps. The progress of the HEiAP Committee over the last four years can be seen here in a summary.
HEiAP is an innovative approach to policy-making that addresses complex social determinants of health by ensuring that policies have beneficial or at least neutral impacts on outcomes of both health and equity. Unlike Health in All Policies (HiAP), which focuses on the health impact of policy-making, HEiAP broadens that focus to include impact on equity as well as health, because inequities are critical factors in determining health outcomes. As an alternative model, HEiAP recognizes that sustainable improvement in health outcomes is possible only when we address the underlying inequities that contribute to poor health.
Although progress on SB 302, as introduced by then State Sen. Charleta Tavares (D-Columbus), ended with the close of the 132nd General Assembly, the efforts of OPHA continue. In partnership with State Representative Erica Crawley (D-Columbus), OPHA is currently working to define its next steps in the reintroduction of the Health and Equity in All Policies (HEiAP) legislation.
Read more about HEiAP and the bill and related documents here
The summary of OPHA’s HEiAP can be downloaded here.