Health Equity:
What it means for Region 8
Health equity is achieved when ALL families have fair and just opportunities to be as healthy as possible.
If we lived in a truly equitable region, ALL pregnant, birthing, and postpartum families would have access to affordable, quality, holistic, and inclusive prenatal and postpartum care, and there wouldn’t be barriers to health including poverty, discrimination, or racism.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reports that people who are low income, and racial and ethnic minorities experience worse health because of inequitable social conditions (RWJ, 2017). In fact, in Region 8, poor maternal and infant health outcomes disproportionally affect birthing people and babies of color, folks who are low income, and folks who live in certain zip codes. In our region, the infant mortality rate for Black infants is almost twice the rate of their white, non-Hispanic counterparts. Infant mortality rate based on insurance coverage for those with private insurance, vs. those with Medicaid is almost equally as troubling. Maternal mortality rates follow this trend also. Between 2015-2019, Black birthing people experienced 1.6 times greater mortality rates than White birthing people in Region 8 (See MDHHS data).
Tackling the health equity issues in our community can seem like a monumental task, however, it starts with small steps YOU can take.
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Engage in conversation about health equity with others around you. Check out this BLOG for conversation starters
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Access reliable information about health indicators in your community, so you’re informed about what issues are influencing the community’s health. Click HERE for county by county data and action tools
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Get more involved with SWMPQIC! We NEED your voice at the table. Everyone has something to share. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletters, attend our Collaborative meetings, community events, and share info about our classes! Together we WILL make change in Region 8.
