On October 28, 2019, the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) hosted the fifth meeting of the Culture of Health Program’s (CoHP) ongoing stakeholder meeting series to engage allies in the Culture of Health movement. This meeting focused on messaging health equity and the social determinants of health to build a culture of health in the United States.

The key objectives of the meeting were to:

• Explore the use and understanding of the terms “health equity” and “the social determinants of health.”
• Identify the challenges and opportunities in messaging the terms “health equity” and “the social determinants of health” from the perspective of various community stakeholders.
• Explore strategies, tools, and resources for community collaboration and engagement including engaging those with lived experience, partner organizations, the business community, funders, policy/decision-makers, and others.
• Discuss the value of sharing power and how shared decision-making helps achieve health equity and can lead to systemic progress.
• Provide guiding principles, best practices, and actionable steps to effectively develop messaging and communication around health equity and the social determinants of health.

This meeting was open to the public. It was followed by an evening reception featuring artwork submitted to our nationwide community art project, Young Leaders Visualize Health Equity.

The National Academy of Medicine’s Culture of Health Program, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is a multiyear collaborative effort to identify strategies to create and sustain conditions that support equitable good health for everyone in America. Since launching, the program released a consensus study on how communities can promote health equity in their local settings, launched three additional consensus studies, held a nationwide community art project, developed a community documentary series, and traveled the country to learn how communities are promoting health equity on the ground. Learn more >>