26. Policies and Laws for the Health of All

What exactly is public health law? Drawing from disciplines like epidemiology, public policy and evaluation, it's a field that we may not often think about in our day-to-day lives. But it has a profound impact on our lifetime trajectory.

Sarah de Guia—chief executive officer of ChangeLab Solutions, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that uses the tools of law and policy to advance health equity—joins Contagious Conversations to discuss how to better engage communities to advance policy development, and how public health law can help facilitate true systemic change.

For more information and a full transcript of this episode, visit Contagious Conversations. 

Key Takeaways: 

[1:46] Sarah talks about her background, why health equity is important to her and the impact of laws and policies on communities. 

[5:57] Sarah talks about her current role at ChangeLab Solutions and what its mission means to her. 

[7:30] Sarah explains the five fundamental drivers of health equity. 

[8:54] Sarah explains the direct link between public health and law. 

[11:56] How can we better engage communities to advance in policy development in public health? 

[14:05] Sarah talks about community trust, participatory budgeting and public deliberation for intentional change. 

[16:57] Why do we need to strengthen public health law? 

[21:32] Sarah talks about some of the public health law tools and resources that can help strengthen public health. 

[23:53] Sarah shares her experience participating in the Lights, Camera, Action National Summit Series. 

[24:44] How can public health law facilitate more systemic change within governmental public health policy to help address existent inequities? 

[25:49] Sarah shares her thoughts on restoring the spirit and value of the common good. 

[29:21] How do we balance individual liberties with the approach of public health and its mandate of securing the common good? 

[30:52] Sarah talks about the biggest challenge from a legal and funding perspective to strengthen the relationship between public health and health equity. 

[31:49] Sarah shares her thoughts on the future of health equity. 

Mentioned in This Episode: