publications
Eric A. Friedman
O’Neill Institute | January 22, 2019
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966)
Yet grave health inequalities persist, whether neighborhoods only miles apart yet separated by decades in residents’ life expectancies, the vast differences in access to skilled birth attendants in many countries based on whether a woman is rich or poor, or the worse health of marginalized populations, such as indigenous people and people with disabilities, virtually everywhere.
We offer a new approach to reducing these health inequities, an approach that would be comprehensive, aim to empower the people who experience these inequities, and that could help establish a sustained national focus on health equity. This approach is embodied in the concept of health equity programs of action (HEPA), which is what we propose here.
These programs of action would be based on seven principles:
Below you will find material on HEPA, with more in-depth descriptions and the complete implementation framework, as well as on the concept from which it emerged: national health equity strategies.
Read the Health Equity Programs of Action infographic here.
Read the Health Equity Programs of Action briefing paper here.
Read the Health Equity Programs of Action summary here.
Read the Health Equity Programs of Action full implementation framework here.
For more information, please contact Eric Friedman (eaf74@law.georgetown.edu).
Health Equity
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Andrew J. Twinamatsiko
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April 20, 2026
Lawrence O. Gostin Sam Halabi
Report
April 7, 2026
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