Advocates using new approach to close health gaps

At the kickoff of Columbus Public Health’s 2018 farmers-market season last month, vendors offering items such as zucchini, peaches and tomatoes dotted the front lawn at the department’s Near East Side headquarters.

Filling bags and wagons were neighborhood residents, some of whom received free vouchers as part of their enrollment in government food-assistance programs.

It’s one of the ways the health department seeks to close a gap between residents who have access to fresh, nutritious foods and those who do not.

The effort fits into a relatively new “health equity” approach in public health that seeks to reduce a long list of health-related disparities based on gender, race or ethnicity, income, education, disability, ZIP code and other factors.

“It’s really just making sure everyone has the services and conditions they need to be healthy,” said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, Columbus health commissioner. “It’s important because the disparities are growing.”

She noted gaps among various groups when it comes to infant mortality rates, obesity, cancer deaths, homicides, opiate-related deaths and life expectancy. A person living in Franklinton, for example, has a life expectancy almost 20 years shorter than that of a Grandview Heights resident, she said.

Working toward health equity has become a vital and key part of both public health and the health-care system, said Theresa Seagraves, who directs health systems and planning at Franklin County Public Health.

Actual medical care factors into about 20 percent of a person’s overall health, she said. The rest involves health behaviors, background, environment and social Actual medical care is but a small part of what it takes to be healthy. Eating the right foods can go a long way toward keeping someone out of the doctor’s office, but limited access to fruits and vegetables can be a problem.

and economic factors.

“Until we address the 80 percent of why a person is unhealthy, we will never get to a place where everyone can enjoy good health,” she said.