Health Equity Concentration in Public Health

Public health professionals and researchers play a crucial role in identifying health disparities and advancing health equity across different groups. A health equity degree in public health can help you assume one of these roles in organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institute of Health (NIH), community groups and hospitals.

It’s more common for the health equity concentration to be offered with master’s degrees than with bachelor's or doctoral degrees. If you are interested in health equity, read on to know more the following topics:

• What is Health Equity?
• Bachelor’s Degree in Health Equity
• Master’s Degree in Health Equity
• MPH Programs in Health Equity Concentration
• Doctorate Degree in Health Equity
• Health Equity Careers Options and Industries Outlook

What is Health Equity?

Deficiencies in healthcare access, treatment, and outcomes across populations are predictable, avoidable and unjust. These inequalities or disparities challenge public health policies, health advocates and medical professionals every day. Health equity is achieved when all gaps no longer exist, and individuals across different populations attain their full health potential.

Why is health equity important for public health?

Gaps in health and health care across the United States persist, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. These disparities show up in differences in life expectancy, quality of life, disease rates and severity, access to prevention and treatment, and avoidable illness and premature death.

Many of these differences are shaped by social determinants of health, such as:

• Residential segregation and neighborhood conditions
• Language and literacy
• Availability of resources to meet daily needs
• Access to educational, economic, and job opportunities
• Availability of community-based resources and social support
• Access to health care services
• Transportation options
• Exposure to social disorder, crime, and violence
• Public safety
• Social norms and attitudes
• Access to mass media and emerging technologies

By addressing these upstream factors, especially for communities that have historically faced barriers to opportunity and care, public health can reduce preventable disease, improve well-being, and help ensure everyone has a fair and just opportunity to achieve their highest level of health.

Bachelor’s Degree in Health Equity

A few of the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accredited institutions offer bachelor’s degrees in public health with the health equity concentration. When accredited, this academic program provides students a solid foundation in statistical analysis and research methods and positions graduates for entry-level employment in medicine, health education and global health research. In addition to standard admission requirements such as a resume or letter of recommendation, schools may request a personal statement or essay, along with a written response to a supplemental question.

Curriculum for a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Equity

Curriculum for a bachelor’s degree in health equity consists of required Bachelor of Public Health (BSPH) courses, general education classes, and a designated number of internship and community service hours. Courses may include:

• Introduction to Public Health: Provides students with a clear understanding of the systemic health issues impacting specific communities and a foundation in public health principles. Students are introduced to the tools for assessing health outcomes, the framework for analyzing the causes, generating solutions, researching and documenting evidence-based public health issues.
• Health Disparities, Equity and Social Justice: Explores health disparities, examines social determinants of health and understands multi-level strategies at decreasing poor health outcomes within a public health framework based on social justice.

Master’s Degree in Health Equity

A master’s in public health with a concentration in health equity focuses on racial disparities and the management of cross-cultural relationships. Graduates prepare for positions in various organizations, including government agencies and nonprofits to develop and assess culturally-appropriate programs and carry out community needs assessments to improve the health of diverse rural populations.

Curriculum for a Master’s Degree in Health Equity

• Structural and Environmental Issues in Urban Communities: Focuses on concepts of risk and burden of disease in rural communities. It examines contemporary issues and challenges of the social, cultural, and physical environments of urban communities.
• Social Determinants of Health: Focuses on the study of the economic and social conditions which determine health. This course examines the social decline in health and explores how poverty, discrimination, job security, neighborhood characteristics, social support, transportation, and stress affect health and longevity. It further investigates how essential interventions shape social environments that support better health.
• Interdisciplinary Approaches to Population Health Challenges: Provides students with a multidisciplinary team-based experience in improving the health of the local community by examining social determinants of health and structural, environmental and systemic issues that impact population health within the context of health equity.
• Community-Based Research for Health Equity: Emphasizes innovative and experimental designs to evaluate program impact and examine program implementation. Case studies from the public health field demonstrate a range of evaluation and participatory research approaches.

Doctorate Degree in Health Equity

There are only a few CEPH-accredited doctoral programs in health equity. The Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program is designed to prepare individuals for leadership positions in organizations that plan and implement initiatives to meet public health needs. In addition to standard school application materials, DrPH applicants should have:

• MPH or equivalent degree.
• A minimum of three years of professional, full-time public health experience in the applicant’s area of interest.
• Official GRE or GMAT test scores from exams taken within the last five years.

Curriculum for a Doctorate Degree in Health Equity

• Conceptual and Evidential Foundations of Health Equity and Social Justice: Addresses the theoretical and philosophical basis of Health Equity and Social Justice.
• Health of Vulnerable Worker Populations: Covers occupational safety and health program matters for vulnerable populations, including women workers, shift workers, aging workers, workers with impairments or chronic diseases, and workers’ families.
• Advances in Community-Oriented Primary Healthcare: Introduces students to the origins and recent advances in community-oriented primary health care through case studies from both developing and developed countries.

Health Equity Careers Options and Industries Outlook

As with any career, salaries vary according to factors including level of education, job experience and geographic location. The collection of skills gained from a master’s in health equity allows for careers that are diverse and include:

Public health professionals can work in a variety of traditional and non-traditional settings in the public, nonprofit and private sectors:

• County and state health departments
• Schools and hospitals
• Research and pharmaceutical organizations
• Center for Diseases Control and Prevention
• National Institutes of Health
• American Red Cross
• American Cancer Society
• Pan American Health organization
• United States Agency for International Development
• World Health Organization