Health Equity Office

The Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County (FDOH-MDC) was awarded the National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May 2021. As a part of this funding, the HEO was established and is housed under the Office of Community Health and Planning. This office serves as an innovative approach to addressing social and economic barriers to health in Miami-Dade.  

The goals of the office are through the four domains of the Chronic Disease Prevention framework, which sets the foundation and guides the work of the HEO. The framework domains include:

• Epidemiology and Surveillance which provide data insights that can be used to educate decision makers.
• Environmental Approaches to create policies that change the context and make healthy lifestyles easier.
• Health Care System Interventions such as the Affordable Care Act, governmental and community public health organizations.
• Community Programs Linked to Clinical Services that increase the use of effective community interventions.

The HEO-Advisory Committee is made up of various community stakeholders that work towards making an impact through sustainable policies, systems, and environmental changes in Miami-Dade County to address factors that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality of life outcomes and risks. These factors can be grouped into five domains.

• Economic Stability: This domain focuses on the connection between the financial resources people have and their health. According to Healthy People 2030, in the United States, 1 in 10 people live in poverty. Many people can’t afford necessities like healthy foods, health care, and affordable housing.
  
• Education Access and Quality: This domain highlights the connection of education to health and wellbeing. Under this domain we will work to increase educational opportunities and help children and adolescents achieve educational goals.
  
• Health Care Access and Quality: This domain highlights the connection between people's access to and understanding of health services. Many people do not receive the health care services they need. Like Healthy People 2030, in Miami-Dade County we will focus on improving the health by helping people get timely, high-quality health care services.
  
• Neighborhood and Built Environment: This domain focuses on the connection between where a person lives and their wellbeing. The neighborhoods people live in have a major impact on their health and well-being.
  
• Social and Community Context: This domain emphasizes the connection and focuses on helping people get the social support they need in the places where they live, work, learn, and play. The HEO-Advisory Committee works to address this domain through interventions that will help people get the social and community support they need to improve their health and well-being.

A total of 35 organizations were funded with the CDC grant to complete projects aimed to reduce barriers to health in 38 zip codes with higher burdens of chronic disease.