Advancing Health Equity Through Multi-Sector Collaboration

Abstract

This doctoral thesis, Advancing Health Equity Through Multi-Sector Collaboration, highlights the need for multi-sector collaboration to address current health inequities. It is focused on three separate projects based in three distinct sectors, which included: local government, a primary care association, and a collaborative focused on creating partnerships and elevating data, policies and practices that promote health equity. The methods employed to better understand the difficulty of facilitating a cohesive multi-sector collaboration and achieving successful outcomes included a survey, a set of interviews, and an assessment of the literature on the effectiveness of policies and programs to improve health opportunity. Although the project goals for each organization differed, collectively they provided insights into the challenges presented when building a multi-sector collaboration, and allowed for the identification of the necessary elements that enable the success of multi-sector collaboration to advance health equity. This doctoral thesis highlights current knowledge on multi-sector collaboration in policy and in public health, delineates the goals, methods and findings based on the three projects and concludes with considerations towards achieving multi-sector collaboration to advance health equity.