About Health at the Roots
Health at the Roots is an initiative dedicated to raising awareness about health inequities by providing accessible information and exploring potential solutions. Founded by Trisha Badjatia, a health equity advocate and MPH candidate at Dartmouth, the platform aims to bridge the gap between research and public understanding of systemic health inequities. Trisha recently graduated from UCLA with departmental highest honors, earning a degree in neuroscience with a minor in global health.
Health at the Roots
Raising Awareness on Health Inequities
What Is Health Equity?
Health Equity is the guiding principle for building systems in which every individual has the opportunity and access to the resources they need to achieve their own optimal health.
Equity does not mean equality. People face different challenges and providing everyone the same solution won't address those differences – even if two people have the same condition. For example, consider two people living with diabetes. Treatment for diabetes often varies by insurance coverage and cost, as well as access to healthcare providers and coexisting health conditions. Even if people have the same treatment plan, circumstances differ greatly. Some may have less access to transportation to reach medical appointments or grocery stores with healthier food options. Others may have reliable transportation but lack the time to sit through long clinic wait times, travel to distant grocery stores, or take time off work to manage their condition and exercise.
A health equity approach would address these gaps with solutions like pop-up clinics throughout the area during non-work hours or a coordinated grocery shuttle that delivers healthy food, or even long-term plans of improving the municipal bus system and workplace policies to include time for managing health conditions. Health equity looks both at the person and the specific problems they face, as well as the broader system they live in – meeting each person where they are to help them achieve the best possible health they can.