“We know it's a question of access to health care, access to clean water, or access to healthy food. We know what the cause is, but we have differences because we haven't fixed those causes. So, when we talk about health inequities, we talk about differences that are, at their root, really unjust – and quite fixable – it's just a question of political will.”

What is health equity and how does it impact youth? For youth today, access to healthcare means much more than simply providing services – to effect change, you must apply a holistic approach, taking into account variables like a child’s family background, their parents’ education, and access to technology. Researcher Dr. Chamberlain, Professor of Pediatrics, Associate Chair of Policy and Community, has been studying how culture and community, as well as how different interventions can level the playing field for children in terms of health equity.

In this conversation, Dr. Chamberlain discusses issues around health equity, including how COVID-19 affected health equity, factors that roll into disparities and some strategies that work to reduce those disparities.

1:53 - What is health equity?

3:11 - How COVID-19 shed a light on the inequality kids and teens were facing

4:53 - Telehealth’s advantages and possible disadvantages with respect to health equity

7:43 - How addressing racism, social injustice, and poverty as core determinants of health can impact a child for life

9:54 - An example of how two different kids with a similar diagnosis face different outcomes based on their backgrounds

11:39 - Implications when not everyone can take advantage of innovations

14:30 - How health inequities play out in mental health

17:35 - ​​How a mother’s education level affects her children’s health outcomes

20:34 - Strategies to reduce disparities

28:14 - Park Prescriptions program

About the Podcast

Care + Cures: Advancing children's health in Silicon Valley (a Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health podcast) unites families, donors, doctors and more to advance transformative healthcare for children. Echoing the innovative spirit of Lucile “Lu” Packard, the children’s hospital’s visionary founder, Care + Cures delivers stories of patient triumphs and challenges, medicine’s successes and failures, and the power of community support—all coming together to change the world, one child at a time.

Sarah Davis is a podcast producer and learning experience designer with interests in storytelling, healthcare, the science of learning, and design thinking. She splits her time between the East Bay and Des Moines, Iowa, where she enjoys finding new food adventures, biking the trail networks, and admiring sunsets after hikes in the hills. You can reach her at davispodcastproductions.com.

• Health Equity Considerations and Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
• Confronting Racism Head On https://supportlpch.org/blog/confronting-racism-head 
• Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2775687 
• Little Libraries Program