Social Determinants of Health and Inequities

You can listen to today’s show (Oct.2, 2016)

  “About Health” on KPFA radio

https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=243157

images-1Your health and the health of your community is affected by many factors.

We know that health care is essential for all, but it is only one health determinant.  There is a broad range of social, economic, racial, and environmental factors that can support or hinder healthy outcomes.

How do we get to greater health equity? Join us for this important conversation.

The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels.–“World Health Organization”

My Guests:

Dr. Dayna Long is the Medical Director at the Center for Community Health and Engagement at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, where she is also an Attending Physician. Her career has been dedicated to addressing health inequities that affect families and young children. In addition to her role as pediatrician, she also serves as a steering committee member of First Five-Alameda County/Help Me Grow, Medical Director at the Center for Community Health and Engagement, Co-founder and Medical Director of the Family Information and Navigation Desk, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland Spokeswoman for the Too Small to Fail: Talk, Read, Sing Initiative….and much more. You can find out more about her at http://www.childrenshospitaloakland.org/main/find-a-doctor/long-dayna-a-md-473.aspx

Anna Gruver, LCSW, is the Maternal, Paternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MPCAH) Coordinator and Health Care Services Administrator at Alameda County’s Public Health Department. She is a bi-lingual, bi-cultural Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked in the field of social work focusing on children and families for more than 20 years. As the MPCAH Coordinator and Alameda County Healthy Start Initiative Project Director she leads the integration of maternal child/early childhood family support services for pregnant women and families with young children; looking closely at social determinants of health and the strength of families. 

MPCAH enhances access to comprehensive, quality health care and focuses on early intervention and prevention services.  The goal is to reduce health disparities, protect and improve health outcomes among Alameda County families, including pregnant women, parenting women and men, and their children.