In March 1966, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, “Of all of the types of inequality, injustice in well being is probably the most surprising and probably the most inhuman.” Well being fairness is the state during which everybody has a good and simply alternative to realize their highest degree of well being. Well being disparities and inequities in infectious illnesses (ID) have existed all through historical past, and ongoing inequities grew to become extra evident through the coronavirus illness 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Throughout the subspecialties of healthcare epidemiology, an infection prevention and management, and antimicrobial stewardship, there’s additionally proof that sure affected person populations are at elevated threat for infectious issues throughout hospitalization, and antibiotic prescribing varies in keeping with a number of components, together with affected person race and ethnicity, geographic location, and sort of prescriber.
To extend the publication and accessibility of ID-related Variety, Fairness, and Inclusion (DEI) content material, the An infection Management and Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE) journal editors issued a name for DEI-focused manuscripts. A number of scientific papers revealed as part of the gathering present insights starting from disease-related inequities primarily based on socioeconomic standing to antibiotic prescribing discordance primarily based on race/ethnicity. Launched within the April 2024 problem of ICHE, we authored Advancing Well being Fairness by Motion in Antimicrobial Stewardship and Healthcare Epidemiology, which synthesized the dear insights offered by the ICHE DEI assortment. Moreover, we offered commentary on how particular person clinicians, healthcare organizations, and the general public well being workforce can apply these findings to their healthcare epidemiology, an infection prevention and management, and antimicrobial stewardship actions.
Everybody has a job to play in bettering fairness, whether or not you might be offering scientific care or main an infection prevention and management, antimicrobial stewardship implementation, or a complete healthcare group. The act of addressing the uncovered inequities could seem daunting. Nonetheless, we emphasize that making a private dedication to fairness is a crucial place to begin. That dedication to mitigating disparities will hopefully create a discussion board to conduct an evaluation of your practices, together with assessing implicit biases and inspecting how social determinants of well being might influence your sufferers and the group extra broadly. This can support in equitably addressing the wants of various populations.
Lastly, the continued development of equitable interventions requires the inclusion of various people within the workforce. Thus, all of us should acknowledge our function in advocating for the recruitment of marginalized people into infectious illness and public well being roles. Furthermore, we should additionally decide to offering these recruits with mentorship and assist all through their careers.
Authors:
Jacinda C. Abdul-Mutakabbir PharmD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Pharmacy and Researcher on the College of California San Diego. Her translational analysis program is concentrated on figuring out inequities in antimicrobial resistance and stewardship to tell tailor-made interventions for susceptible communities.
Lauri Hicks, DO, FACP is a Captain within the US Public Well being Service and the Chief of the Medical Product Security Department within the Division of Healthcare High quality and Promotion on the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention in Atlanta.
