Advancing Health Equity

California’s hospitals are committed to advancing health equity — a key factor in helping all Californians reach their highest potential for health — and high-quality care. Hospitals alone cannot eliminate health disparities; it will take systemic reform and broad partnership to improve the status quo.

Health equity is the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. Achieving this requires focused and ongoing societal efforts to address historical and contemporary injustices; overcoming economic, social, and other obstacles to health and health care; and eliminating preventable health disparities.

Achieving health equity requires valuing everyone equally with focused and ongoing societal efforts to address avoidable inequalities, historical and contemporary injustices, and the elimination of health and health care disparities.

Achieving health equity also requires addressing social determinants of health and health disparities. It involves acknowledging and addressing racism as a threat to public health and the history of unethical practices in public health that lead to inequitable health outcomes. The CDC prioritizes reducing health disparities among populations disproportionately affected by HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, and other related conditions.