Abstract
Introduction: Community-governed comprehensive primary health care organizations came together, with their provincial association, to develop a Health Equity Charter that centres social justice, anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-racism and anti-oppression into the practices of the organization thereby improving access for communities and people in Ontario Canada.
Target Audience: Primary Health Care Organizations or providers that want to improve access and care for people that are marginalized or face oppression.
Implementation of Health Equity Charter: At the 2011 Alliance for Healthier Communities Annual General Meeting, a resolution was put forward that called for the development of a Health Equity Charter to serve as “a guide and an inspiration” in delivering better care. This initiative reflected a desire to articulate a unifying vision for organizations that would “describe our aspirations for access, participation, equity, inclusiveness and social justice.” In 2012, Alliance membership made their commitment to Health equity official by adopting the Health Equity Charter.
Since its adoption, Health Equity Charter has become one of the foundational documents and has been acting as a guide and inspiration for the sector. It allows us to speak together about the barriers that certain groups in Ontario face and what we can do to address these barriers and ensure everyone can have access to the services and supports they need and be as healthy as they can be.
In 2017, endorsement of the Charter became one of Alliance membership criteria and in 2019 and then again in 2021 the Charter was refreshed with additional acknowledgements and commitments. As part of the refresh process, we formed a working group that included representatives from the Alliance Board and Alliance’s priority population groups (Indigenous, Black, Francophone and 2SLGBTQ+). In addition to the consultation, an environmental scan of relevant documents, reports and tools was undertaken.
The call for refresh came from within the Alliance membership, especially those organizations that serve Indigenous and Black and racialized populations who felt that there were some gaps in the previous charter. As our understanding of health equity kept evolving, the Charter needed to evolve with it. The goal was to create a more relevant, living document with clear accountability mechanisms that could better support our work.
Learnings will be shared that include:
- Rational for primary care providers to consider adopting a HE charter
- The process for developing a culturally relevant HE charter
- How to implement the charter at a micro and macro level
Next Steps: Alliance members have committed to endorse the Charter and review their progress in putting this in action. To support this work, the Alliance has developed a self-assessment tool to help measure their progress of advancing health equity in their organizations and communities.