Supporting a Movement for Health and Health Equity: Lessons from Social Movements: Workshop Summary

by Institute of Medicine, Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice, Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities, Roundtable on Population Health Improvement, Nirupa Goel

Overview

Supporting a Movement for Health and Health Equity is the summary of a workshop convened in December 2013 by the Institute of Medicine Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities and the Roundtable on Population Health Improvement to explore the lessons that may be gleaned from social movements, both those that are health-related and those that are not primarily focused on health. Participants and presenters focused on elements identified from the history and sociology of social change movements and how such elements can be applied to present-day efforts nationally and across communities to improve the chances for long, healthy lives for all.

The idea of movements and movement building is inextricably linked with the history of public health. Historically, most movements - including, for example, those for safer working conditions, for clean water, and for safe food - have emerged from the sustained efforts of many different groups of individuals, which were often organized in order to protest and advocate for changes in the name of such values as fairness and human rights. The purpose of the workshop was to have a conversation about how to support the fragments of health movements that roundtable members believed they could see occurring in society and in the health field. Recent reports from the National Academies have highlighted evidence that the United States gets poor value on its extraordinary investments in health - in particular, on its investments in health care - as American life expectancy lags behind that of other wealthy nations. As a result, many individuals and organizations, including the Healthy People 2020 initiative, have called for better health and longer lives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780309303316
Publisher:	National Academies Press
Publication date:	01/03/2015
Pages:	110
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Acronyms xv

1 Introduction 1

2 Lessons From Social Movements 5

Insights from the Sociology of Social Movements 5

Practical Lessons in Movement Building 9

Discussion 14

3 Lessons from Health-Related Movements 21

Supporting Health Equity 21

The Role of Philanthropies in Social Movements 23

Lessons from the Healthy Cities and Communities Movement 26

Building Public Will to Achieve Health Equity 28

Lessons from the Walking Movement 31

Panel Discussion 34

4 Investing in Healthy Communities: One Foundation's Approach 39

Political Exclusion and Health Inequity 40

Toward a Narrative of Inclusion 41

Discussion 42

5 Lessons from Social Movements Beyond Health 45

Community Economic Development and Education 45

Tackling Health Inequity by Building Democracy 49

Building Social Movements from the Bottom Up 51

A Perspective at the Intersection of Movement and Politics 53

Panel Discussion 55

6 Reaction and Response 57

Initial Reactions to the Day 57

Roundtable and Audience Responses 60

Closing Remarks 63

Appendixes

A References 65

B Workshop Agenda 67

C Considerations for Building a Population Health Movement: Five Key Debates 71

D Glossary of Movement Terminology 83

E Speaker and Moderator Biographies 85