Health Equity

Health Equity

Health equity is achieved within a community when every person has the opportunity to attain their full health potential. This occurs when no one is disadvantaged from achieving their best health due to social position or other socially determined circumstances.

Inequities are created when systematic barriers disproportionately impact minority groups. Racial, ethnic, linguistic, and sexual minorities have been historically withheld from obtaining resources that are needed to be healthy, which is a clear barrier to achieving health equity.

In order to achieve health equity and ensure every person has equitable access to health and healthcare services, we must collectively address health disparities and injustices.

Health Disparities

The term health disparity is often used to describe differences in access to healthcare and health outcomes between racial and ethnic groups. However, disparities exist across other dimensions as well, such as gender, sexual orientation, age, disability status, socioeconomic status, and geographic location.

Equity-vs-Equality-Apples

Health Equity Data

In the United States there are substantial health inequities attributable to the constructs of race, ethnicity, gender, and geographic location. There inequities are observed for a variety of health outcomes, including the prevalence, incidence, mortality, and morbidity due to countless health outcomes (i.e. cancer, homicide, heart disease etc). Differences in health between these groups are caused by socioeconomic status, environmental conditions, community environments, variations in medical care, and many other factors.

According to the 2020 Greater Nashua Community Health Assessment (CHA):

  • The Gini Index for Hillsborough County is 0.43, indicating that the highest income individuals are receiving a disproportionate amount of the population's total income.
  • In Nashua, the gender wage gap shows that males are more likely to make 50k-100k, while females are more likely to make less than 50k when compared to males. Females are also more likely to live below the poverty level when compared to males. 
  • In Nashua, the race and ethnicity wage gap shows that 31.4% of American Indian/Alaskan Natives, 25% of Native Hawaiians, 22% of Hispanic/Latinx, and 14% of Black/African American residents live below poverty level. These race/ethnicities are also more likely to be unemployed when compared with white residents in Nashua. 
  • There is a 20 year difference in life expectancy between census tract 107 (downtown Nashua) and census tract 110. People living in census tract 107 live for an average of 64 years, while people living in census tract 110 live for an average of 84 years. This indicates that where a person lives is directly correlated with how long that they live. 

Visit the Health Equity CHA page by clicking here.

Racism as a Public Health Issue

Throughout our nation, many states have declared racism as a public health crisis. Racism affects the health of a community by preventing some people the opportunity to attain their full health potential. As a driving force of the social determinants of health and a barrier to health equity, the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services (DPHCS) has identified racism as a public health priority. By doing so, we are committed to prioritizing racial equity at the core of our work, advocating for policies that improve health in communities of color, and educating about the impact racism has on our community.

Diversity & Cultural Competence Workshop

The Diversity & Cultural Competence Workshop is a FREE interactive, experiential training that will allow participants to explore the concepts of diversity and culture, and recognize personal values, beliefs, and biases.

At the conclusion of the 4-hour facilitative training, participants will be able to: 

  • Explain the similarities and differences between “diversity” and “culture”, and how they relate to their work,
  • Identify their own cultural attitudes towards communication, appearance, time, authority, and work habits,
  • Describe how their cultural attitudes impact their daily interactions,
  • Identify behaviors that indicate a lack of cultural competence and those that indicate skill in cultural competence,
  • Explain the importance of cultural competence in their work.

The Diversity & Cultural Competence Workshop is offered by qualified facilitators from the City of Nashua who have been through a 40-hour Train-the-Trainer training offered by the New Hampshire Health & Equity Partnership (H&EP). The 4-hour workshop can be offered all at once or broken into 2 modules.

Upcoming Workshop Dates

  • August 24-25 (9 AM to 11 AM)
  • September 28-29 (9 AM to 11 AM)
  • October 26-27 (9 AM to 11 AM)

Interested in participating? Sign up here.

Get Involved!

Regional Health Equity Workgroup

The newly established Regional Health Equity Workgroup meets every second Tuesday of the month at the Nashua Division of Public Health and Community Services. For more information, please contact Iraida Muñoz. 


Contact Us

  1. Iraida Muñoz

    Public Health Equity Officer
    Email