title: Sustaining a Focus on Health Equity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Through Organizational Structures and Functions.
abstract: The public health infrastructure required for achieving health equity is multidimensional and complex. The infrastructure should be responsive to current and emerging priorities and capable of providing the foundation for developing, planning, implementing, and evaluating health initiatives. This article discusses these infrastructure requirements by examining how they are operationalized in the organizational infrastructure for promoting health equity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, utilizing the nation's premier public health agency as a lens. Examples from the history of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's work in health equity from its centers, institute, and offices are provided to identify those structures and functions that are critical to achieving health equity. Challenges and facilitators to sustaining a health equity organizational infrastructure, as gleaned from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's experience, are noted. Finally, we provide additional considerations for expanding and sustaining a health equity infrastructure, which the authors hope will serve as "food for thought" for practitioners in state, tribal, or local health departments, community-based organizations, or nongovernmental organizations striving to create or maintain an impactful infrastructure to achieve health equity.
authors.affiliation: Office of the Director, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (Dr Dean), Office of the Director, Office of Minority Health and Health Equity (Drs Roberts and Bouye and Ms Green), and Office of Health Disparities, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (Dr McDonald), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Hazel D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Dean
authors.forename: George W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: Karen E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Bouye
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Green
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: McDonald
mesh_terms: D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000639:trends*; D000069576:Health Equity / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D016134:Organizational Policy; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D014481:United States