The attacks on public health and racial justice that have become a constant during President Donald Trump's second term initially caught some advocates and researchers off guard.
But the authors of “Advancing Equity and Justice,” a new APHA Press book, expected the pushback, given the gains in health equity and racial issues under the Obama and Biden administrations. The Trump administration has eliminated funding for diversity, equity and inclusion, fired staff who work on the topics and rolled back myriad public health protections.
“When progress is being made, there is inevitably a period of retrenchment and very concerted and coordinated efforts to push back on progress around racial justice, social justice,” coauthor Jamila Porter, DrPH, MPH, chief of staff at the de Beaumont Foundation, told The Nation's Health. “I wasn't surprised, but I was very disheartened by it.”
In “Advancing Equity and Justice,” part of APHA's Strategic Skills for Public Health Practice series, authors explain why many public health approaches to justice do not get the results that are hoped for, and why the challenges go beyond lack of funding.
“They're systemic and structural,” Porter and Aysha Pamukcu, JD, director of the San Francisco Foundation's Policy Fund, say in the book. “Our field has been shaped by — and remains embedded in — systems that fundamentally, and often fatally, undermine community health. This has forced us to merely respond to the symptoms of injustice while leaving its root causes intact.”
Readers of the book will gain insights into the foundations of inequity and injustice; ways to effect public health change, including the impact of misinformation and false narratives; and how knowledge and insight can guide successful approaches.
“Advancing equity and justice is the work of public health,” Porter said. “It is at the heart of what we do, no matter what you are doing — whether you're an epidemiologist, a policy analyst or a public health practitioner.”
Porter and Pamukcu come from different academic backgrounds, but still find common ground.
When she was a civil rights lawyer, Pamukcu felt like an outsider to public health, she said. But over time and through collaborating with Porter, she realized she was doing public health work all along, just under a different name.
“Public health is not just a network of specifically trained, professionalized people,” Pamukcu told The Nation's Health. “It's actually everyone in their different lanes working toward a shared agenda of collective health and shared prosperity.”
This realization can transform public health “from a field of professionalized people to a broader movement,” she said. “That's the work of coalition building and helping everyone see their role and their stake in the work of public health.”
Ultimately, “Advancing Equity and Justice” offers a positive message, even in the face of today's challenges.
“We can better situate ourselves to respond to the particular moment we're in and anticipate the moment that might be ahead,” Pamukcu said. “This is not a time to despair and lose hope, but get sharp on strategy and take the long view.”
For more information or to purchase “Advancing Equity and Justice,” visit www.aphabookstore.org.
- Copyright The Nation’s Health, American Public Health Association
