As part of an effort to prioritize health equity in Los
Angeles County, the Department of Public Health
Institutional Review Board (IRB) is undertaking a
Health
Equity Initiative (HEI). Through this initiative,
the IRB is working to ensure that
principles of health equity such as community engagement
and cultural and linguistic inclusion are incorporated
into the research, evaluation, and other data-gathering
activities that are conducted by the Department and
our community partners.
UPDATE: Our HEI
efforts will be recognized at the 2023 PRIM&R Annual
Conference! Please click on the photo below to view our
poster that will be presented at the conference in December.
Health Equity Initiative At a Glance
In Phase 1 of the
HEI,
interviews were completed with a group of key informants
comprised of researchers from governmental, academic,
and community-based entities located in and serving Los
Angeles County.
Click on the photo below to view the full report that
describes Phase 1 of the HEI.
Key Points from Interviews:
- The research field must do a better
job of engaging underserved communities
throughout all aspects of the health
research process, from the conception
and design of a study to the analysis
and dissemination of results after
collection is complete.
- Taking a community-based approach to
health research can improve the
engagement and investment of the
community leading to a more equitable
research process and the collection of
data that is more representative of and
relevant to the target communities.
- Organizations that engage in health
research should provide resources such
as operational support (i.e., use of
facilities or other infrastructure,
personnel, etc.), adequate training, and
funding to integrate a more equitable
and community-based approach to their
research activities.
- Organizations that fund health
research should incorporate health
equity standards in their grant awards
so that grantees can be held accountable
for addressing issues of health equity
in their research. Funders should also
reassess the size of their awards to
ensure that grantees have sufficient
funding for activities such as
evaluation, translation of study
documents, implementing more equitable
recruitment campaigns, providing more
equitable study incentives, etc.
A summary report describing Phase 2 of the HEI
data collection, our Health Equity survey, is in
development. Please check back soon for updates.
Visit the Center for Health Equity
website for more information about the Los Angeles
County Dept. of Public Health's ongoing efforts to
address health equity.