Practice Committee

Data Framework in Action

In 2006 the BARHII Data Work Group developed a Conceptual Framework to promote greater understanding of the link between Social Determinants and Health Inequities. Since then, many of our member Health Departments have used the framework in a spectrum of settings, from providing a broader social context for their Health Status Reports (link to City of Berkeley HSR) to instructing a course on Health Inequities at Stanford Medical School.

Taking it a step further, Dr. Tony Iton, who is the current Health Officer and Director of the Alameda County Public Health Department, demonstrates how the framework—when presented can encourage various audiences to think beyond an individual level analysis of problem.

View the Framework in Action presentation (pdf)

The following summary highlights the overall intent and structure of the presentation.


Presentation Highlights
  • The presentation starts and ends with Healthy People 2010 mandate, which discusses a greater charge to Public Health Departments to eliminate health inequities and identifies social justice as an acceptable means to this end.
  • Identifies several social conditions as the root causes of persistent health inequities. These "hazardous social conditions" are easily overlooked and have not traditionally been included in Health Status Reports. However, several emerging data methods (GIS mapping, Social Gradient Analysis) have been used to successfully demonstrate these issues.
  • Demonstrates the persistence of health inequities for certain populations in Alameda County despite a high concentration of various social services.
  • Underscores the limitations of using the medical model as the only approach for developing interventions and suggests a greater emphasis on a socio-ecological model to achieve a greater impact on the social factors that impact the public's health.
  • Advocates for enhancing the capacity of Public Health Departments (infrastructure, workforce) to use multidisciplinary approaches to address socio-ecological determinants of health.
  • Highlights strategies for engaging with issues at a more upstream level of intervention including: Discussions of Institutional Power, Policy Change and Advocacy, Enhancing opportunities for community resilience.


View the Framework in Action presentation (pdf)