On June 12, the NAM hosted the second webinar in its Culture of Health Program Webinar Series.  

The National Academies report Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity concluded that health equity is crucial and health inequity is costly. Communities across the country are deploying action strategies to reduce health inequities. However, it can be challenging to effectively communicate and message the value of health equity and ongoing efforts to diverse stakeholders. Voices for Healthy Kids, a joint initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Heart Association, developed a messaging guide that provides custom-built messages and insights for policy advocates to further the advancement of health equity. This guide provides an overview of shared values and the need to harness these values in mobilizing decision makers to take action.

For this webinar, experts provided research-based tips and techniques for advancing health equity in public policy. A case study illustrated how value-based messaging has proven effective in creating common ground while unifying communities and decision makers to create needed change. A community representative from WE ACT for Environmental Justice in Harlem, NY provided reactions to the webinar presentations. 

Webinar Objectives

• Highlight successful strategies for messaging and communicating health equity in public policy.
• Provide an example of a successful communications campaign that effectively utilized evidence-based strategies to engage key stakeholders to advance health equity in public policy.
• Identify current research gaps around effective messaging and communication for health equity. 

Audience Q&A gave webinar attendees the opportunity to engage with the webinar speakers. Webinar speakers included:

• John Dreyzehner, Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Health
• Jennifer Messenger Heilbronner, Executive Vice President, Metropolitan Group
• Ben Schmauss, Government Relations Director for Nevada, American Heart Association
• Lubna Ahmed, Director of Environmental Health, WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Questions? Please email Mariana Zindel at MZindel@nas.edu

Related Resources from the National Academies

• Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity
• Communicating to Advance the Public’s Health
• Communicating Science Effectively: A Research Agenda
• A Framework for Educating Health Professionals to Address the Social Determinants of Health
• Framing the Dialogue on Race and Ethnicity to Advance Health Equity: Proceedings of a Workshop
• Exploring Equity in Multisector Community Health Partnerships: Proceedings of a Workshop