Strengthening local government policies to address health inequities: perspectives from Australian local government stakeholders.

ABSTRACT:

Background

With their close connection to community and increasing preventive health remit, local governments are well positioned to implement policies and programs to address health inequities. Nevertheless, there is a lack of evidence of equity-focused policy action in this sector. We aimed to understand how local government representatives approach equity in the development and implementation of health and wellbeing policies and programs, and to identify potential enablers for strengthening an equity focus.

Methods

We conducted semi-structured interviews (June 2022-January 2023) with 29 health directorate representatives from 21 local governments in Victoria, Australia. Representatives were recruited from urban, regional and rural local government areas, with varying leve

SUBMITTER: Schultz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10283264 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature