Creating Conditions That Promote Health Equity
Various issues were exacerbated throughout the pandemic, such as the need to address social determinants of health (SDOH) or factors such as economic and social conditions that play a role in an individual’s health outcomes. COVID-19 amplified the need to create health equity for individuals in underserved communities as they were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Destiny-Simone Ramjohn, Vice President of Community Health and Social Impact for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, spoke with David Nevins at CityBizList on pandemic-related philanthropic initiatives and CareFirst’s priorities post-pandemic.
“The pandemic shed a huge spotlight on why it is so essential for healthcare and other industries to be thinking about how health equity and related initiatives can remove obstacles to health,” said Ramjohn. “Things like poverty and its consequences. It put this spotlight on how lack of access to good jobs with fair pay or quality education, housing and safe environments shape so much of our health.”
“We cannot lose sight of the lessons we learned from COVID. Health disparities persist, and they need to be addressed. We are going to continue to focus on pushing all parts of our healthcare system towards collaboration and double down on the elimination of health disparities.”
Destiny-Simone Ramjohn, Vice President of Community Health and Social Impact for CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield