In January 2019, the Louisiana Department of Health created the Bureau of Community Partnerships & Health Equity. This office is focused on health equity and ensuring LDH’s services are equitably accessible and informed by the people, populations and communities it serves.
Health equity means every person in a community has a fair and just opportunity to reach their full health potential. The Bureau of Community Partnerships and Health Equity team is developing and implementing agency-wide health equity plans, protocols, and tools that support the implementation of health equity (and community engagement) practices and standards agency-wide within LDH.
Goal: Operationalize community engagement and health equity best practices and standards agency wide.
- Understanding Long COVID
- Barriers to Health Fact Sheet
- Health Equity Roadmap Phase 2: Nothing About Us Without Us
These are some of the health equity practices taking place within LDH:
- LDH Health Promotion Ambassadors
- Louisiana HIV Planning Group
- Perinatal Quality Collaborative focus on black mothers
- Hepatitis C elimination program, which includes prisoners
- Prison pre-release program
- U = U campaign (launched March 2019)
- PrEP for Black Women campaign (launched March 2019)
- Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Program
- LDH Health Equity Strategic Plans (finalized in late 2019; implementing in 2020 and beyond – see plan (phase-I) above)
- LDH Community Engagement Framework (a part of the LDH Health Equity Strategic Plans)
The Health Equity Roadmap, Phase 2: Nothing About Us Without Us expands upon the Department’s first Health Equity Roadmap, created in 2020, and describes the next phase in LDH’s journey to incorporate health equity throughout its programs, policies and procedures. “Nothing About Us Without Us” refers to LDH’s commitment to developing meaningful working relationships within the communities we support.
The Roadmap Phase 2 includes continued support and enhanced guidance for the Health Equity Action Teams (HEATs) in LDH’s major offices and Health Equity Ambassadors (Ambassadors) in LDH offices and bureaus without HEATs. The Roadmap Phase 2 will also include additional processes to enhance technical assistance and bring other tools to LDH leadership and team members to apply a health equity lens to departmental policies, practices and emerging issues.