Health Equity And Equality

ANSWERS

In healthcare, equality entails treating all patients equally. A hospice nurse, for example, may spend equal amounts of time with each patient, or a dermatologist may provide the same information about sun exposure and skin cancer risks to all of their patients.

When health disparities occur as a result of unequal treatment, such as when certain patients face discrimination, health equality can help to bridge the gap.

Transgender people, for example, frequently face discrimination in healthcare. According to a Center for American Progress report released in June 2020, 68% of transgender people of color have been mistreated by medical professionals. When transgender patients sought treatment, doctors allegedly:

Refused to consult with transgender patients
Treatment that was physically harsh or abusive
The patient was intentionally mislabeled.
When referring to the patient, intentionally use the person’s birth name (a practice known as “deadnaming”).
refused to provide gender transition healthcare
During treatment, you used harsh or abusive language.
While these forms of discrimination are morally wrong and illegal, they continue to occur.

The report’s findings show that a lack of safety and support in some medical settings causes undue stress for transgender people seeking healthcare:

Transgender people who reported visible discomfort from their providers due to their actual or perceived gender identity: 32%
Transgender people who had to educate their provider on transgender healthcare in order to receive proper treatment: 33%
Transgender people who have had their insurance companies deny them coverage for gender-affirming care: 50%
Equality could go a long way toward making transgender people’s healthcare safer. Medical professionals can significantly reduce transgender discrimination in healthcare settings by treating cisgender and transgender people equally.

In healthcare, health equity prioritizes social justice. Health equity prioritizes treatment and care based on need instead of health equality, which calls for equal treatment for all patients.

Equality does not always work in practice because some people require more — or a different type of — assistance than others. According to the American Public Health Administration (APHA), over 2 million people in the United States lack access to running water or plumbing, which can lead to serious health problems. Many other people do not have access to safe drinking water. People who are disproportionately affected by poor water quality are:

Senior citizens
Individuals and families with low income
Communities in the countryside
Colored communities
Children
An equitable approach to addressing the problem of contaminated drinking water would be to increase government funding (or raise new funds) for clean water systems.

QUESTION

Health Equity And Equality

Overview:In this writeup you will prepare a short written response to the prompt below.

Your response should be complete and your final document should comply with APA writing requirements.

Instructions:

1. Find a not-for-profit organization who is leading a national or global initiative promoting health equity.
2. List:
   • The organization.
   • The project.
   • How it impacts health equity.

3. How does this compare to health equality?