Using Healthy People as a Tool to Identify Health Disparities and Advance Health Equity

BACKGROUND: As research into the health of different segments of the American population continues to advance, data show inequalities in health outcomes depending on a variety of characteristics, including income and education levels, gender identity, race and ethnicity, and disability status. The Healthy People initiative explores how specific population groups perform for 10-year objectives, including the Leading Health Indicators, which are a broad set of metrics that track issues from health behaviors to determinants of one's health. FINDINGS: The data show that, when it comes to health, the playing field for all Americans is not even. At the close of Healthy People 2020, an assessment of the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicators showed that threats to the health of every American vary dependent on who they are, where and how they live, and the community they were born into. DISCUSSION: Healthy People 2030 places an emphasis on continued research into these health indicators to uncover how different these realities are for different population groups and to inform and guide effective health policies and interventions in the years ahead.