Developing a Health Equity Lens for Nova Scotia CPHA Conference 2014 Health Equity Lens Working Group Lynn Langille Annick Arsenault Jen MacDonald Nadine Saunders Anne-Marie Smith Racheal Surette Lisa Tremblay

NS Public Health Standards and Protocols Context

Social Justice The equitable distribution of goods, resources and opportunities necessary for health. Social justice encompasses the concepts of human rights and equity. NS Public Health Standards,

Cross-cutting ● Understanding ● Priority Setting and Planning ● Partnership ● Policy ● Health Equity Content Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Environmental Health Healthy Communities Healthy Development

To provide Public Health practitioners and partners with an easy-to-use guide to help integrate equity into their work Purpose of the Lens

Development of the HE Lens ScanTop 15 Draft Lens Work Gp Review Ref Gp Review Pilot Testing

About the Lens Unpacking health inequities Knowledge, skills and attitudes Priority populations Health Equity Lens Appendices and Resources Content of the Lens

HEALTH EQUITY LENS Scoping Analyzing Monitoring & Evaluating Acting Work with priority populations and other stakeholders

To gain feedback on the Lens and insight on its use Gather examples Public Health teams to use the Lens over a ~3 month period in current or new work Pilot Testing

Focus of Pilots and Timelines Pilot #3: Youth Needs Assessment (12 months) Pilot #2: Flu Immunization (6 months) Pilot #1: Prenatal programming (4 months) Pilot #4: Poverty Focus (? months)

Focus on three areas: 1.Lens quality and relevance 2.Facilitators and challenges 3.Pilots: extent of learning, improvement of skills, effectiveness of the project Evaluation of Pilots

Learning thus far… Plainer language Time is needed to integrate an equity lens More specific instructions: A workbook? Provide examples of using the lens How much is “necessary to do” and how much is “nice to do”?