Population Health and Well-being

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About

Population health and well-being is something we create as a society, not something an individual can attain in a clinic or be responsible for alone. Health is more than being free from disease and pain; health is the ability to thrive. Well-being covers both quality of life and the ability of people and communities to contribute to the world. Population health involves optimal physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being.

Relationship to health and equity

Measures of length and quality of life tell us who is living long and well within and across communities and can illuminate patterns of poor health, often tied to harmful conditions and inequitable policies and practices. As one example, life expectancy — a key measure of population health — had increased over time in the U.S. but is now declining.

The opportunity for good health is not available to everyone. There are clear patterns of advantage and disadvantage in conditions that support health and well-being. The impact of unjust conditions is often visible in unfair health outcomes for racialized populations (populations perceived as being socially different from the racial or ethnic majority) and for marginalized communities where society has failed to invest in ways that value people.

Relationship to systems and structures

These patterns in population health and well-being are shaped by our collective actions through laws, policies and institutional practices that influence social, economic or environmental conditions. The conditions for health and opportunity are influenced by decisions and historical legacies at local, state and federal levels.

The health implications of laws and policies, institutional practices, and worldviews, culture and norms were explicit during the COVID-19 pandemic. This could be seen throughout society, and, specifically in who got paid time off work, who had flexibility in working from home, who was deemed an essential worker, and who had freedom to not live in congregate housing, like shelters and prisons. Sheltering some people from harm and exposing others to it resulted in decreased population health and well-being for all.

We can repair harm, break down barriers erected by those holding power and take collective action. We can also center the voices of people who have been disproportionately harmed by unfair obstacles and actions that advantage only some.

Additional Reading

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