Self-study tool for integrating health equity into Health in All Policies (HiAP) initiatives

Setting. Health system leaders in Canada recognise that quality improvement alone cannot address health inequities. Intersectoral action, which involves coordination and collaboration across public, private, and third-sector organisations, can improve the distribution of social determinants of health (SDOH) and thereby, health equity. While Health in All Policies (HiAP) promotes this approach, critiques and empirical data highlight implementation gaps over whether health equity is actually being improved. The potential for HiAP initiatives to reduce health inequities can be strengthened by paying greater attention to how these interventions are designed, implemented, and evaluated.

We developed and pilot tested a self-study tool that helps organisations learn and reflect on how health equity can be targeted in intersectoral initiatives, including HiAP. This is not the only tool that can be used to consider ways to integrate health equity into intersectoral action; however, it is the first one designed for HiAP initiatives specifically.

The self-study tool asks the user to reflect on a series of health equity concepts to raise awareness about opportunities to better integrate health equity into the design, implementation, and evaluation of intersectoral initiatives.

The survey and appendix can fill in the gaps of other tools meant to support intersectoral action for health by focusing on ways to strengthen the health equity potential of initiatives. Users can apply the tool prospectively and retrospectively to explicitly target specific criteria to improve how their interventions focus on and potentially address health equity.