The year in public health: Looking back on hard-won progress, looking ahead to new possibilities
by: Heather Gehlert
posted on Wednesday, January 02, 2013
The holidays are often a time for reflection. For me, that usually means thinking about the challenges of the past year and asking: Where did I succeed? Where did I stumble? And what does that mean going forward?
But this year I’m taking a new approach. Instead of focusing solely on my individual goals and resolutions, I’m also reflecting on the things that make them possible: One of those is public health. As UC Berkeley professor George Lakoff recently pointed out, it is the public that makes the private possible. The public gives us our schools and roads and food systems — the context for daily living that affects whether we are healthy enough to dream big in the first place.
Public health professionals and advocates worked tirelessly in 2012 to make sure that context supported health for the largest number of people possible. They encountered dicey political battles and discouraging setbacks along the way, but, ultimately, 2012 was a year of progress.
We saw advocates put new chinks in the armor of the food and beverage industry — no small feat considering the size of industry coffers and the ferocity of their pushback. Still, those chinks are deep: 16-ounce sodas will soon be the new normal in New York City. The concept of a soda tax is gaining momentum. And the public is warming to the reality that if we want to improve nutrition and physical activity, changes in individual behavior aren’t enough: We have to tackle the systems and structures that are working against us.
2012 was also a year of breaking silence around child sexual abuse. Following the arrest of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, advocates leveraged the media to reveal a story not just of an individual perpetrator but of an institutional failure to protect children. That story line has highlighted the need for prevention and will inform both the way our nation sees child sexual abuse and how we formulate solutions going forward.
And, now, heading into 2013, we’re seeing a dramatic shift in public conversation on gun violence — an issue that, once dismissed as inevitable, we are beginning to understand as preventable. Thanks to continued advocacy on the issue, reporters are demonstrating more sophisticated reporting on violence, policymakers are discussing gun control in spite of its reputation for being politically untouchable, and large swaths of the country are demanding change.
That widespread support, combined with strategic changes in policy, is exactly how change happens. After all, even though the private depends on the public, as Lakoff said, “We, all together, constitute the public.” And our individual social change efforts, when combined, can accomplish nearly anything.
So what will the new year hold for public health? The possibilities are wide open, but at BMSG, we know one thing for sure: We are going to be part of the action. 2013 is a milestone for us. It marks our 20th anniversary, and we are already looking ahead to the next 20 years with a renewed commitment to health equity and to media advocacy as a mechanism for making it happen.
As part of our media advocacy work, we will be rethinking the way we talk about health equity. We will dig deeper than ever to show the social roots of health. And we will explore how power relationships based on race, class, gender and sexuality are at the core of how healthy we are (or aren’t) and how well (or not) we function together as a “public.”
But we will also be realistic about how long social change can take and what challenges we might encounter along the way. As we gear up for this next phase of working to improve public health, here are some resolutions to get us started:
I resolve to submit at least one letter to the editor each quarter, to sustain the collective conversation about why public health matters. — Ingrid Daffner Krasnow
This year, I resolve to more closely follow news coverage of national and state-level gun control policy debates, and to look for action items from experts on preventing gun violence. — Rebecca Womack
I resolve to become an active participant in my neighborhood watch to bring back a higher level of safety to my community. – Susan Paul
In 2013, I resolve to be sure that white privilege is a visible part of the mix whenever I am talking about, learning about, or working on racial/ethnic inequity. — Lori Dorfman
I resolve to develop my skills at communicating with public health advocates about media advocacy through blogs and social media. — Laura Nixon
This year I will reach out to more California advocates who are seeking policy change to improve the health of their communities. — Fernando Quintero
I resolve to walk the talk of media advocacy and use my voice to help push policies that advance health equity. — Andrew Cheyne
During 2013, I resolve to chip away at inequitable systems by buying at least 50 percent of my groceries and other purchases from independent, locally owned businesses. — Yvonne Rodriguez
I will learn from the successes had by groups and individuals working to dismantle structural racism. — Julieta Kusnir
This year, I resolve to be timely in writing letters to the editor to reframe public health, safety, and social justice issues through the lens of institutional accountability. — Pamela Mejia
I resolve to use online media to make more connections with reporters, both those who are seasoned in reporting on public health and those who, being immersed in a regular beat of education or crime or technology, may have yet to realize that health is in all places. — Heather Gehlert