Redefining Public Health (ft. Tracy Jones & Whitney Engeran)

Redefining Public Health (ft. Tracy Jones & Whitney Engeran)

Where illness, wellness, food availability, and even race intersect

GUEST BIO:

Tracy Jones: Senior management team for AHF, as well as the National Director of Mobilization Campaigns. Her work is centered largely around advocacy, and she also works closely with an affiliate organization based in her home of Cleveland, Ohio.

Connect with Tracy: LinkedIn

Whitney Engeran: Also a member of the senior management team, serves as the Senior Director of Public Health. In this role he oversees the AHF Public Health Division, which manages HIV testing, STD testing, linkage to care, as well as select advocacy and public policy work in the United States.

Connect with Whitney: LinkedIn

CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:

[08:27] – Addressing National Public Health Issues

How a new pandemic caused the AHF to rethink public health

COVID-19 has revealed significant areas where our current public health system falls short. One such area is in the lack of coordination between the literally thousands of local public health institutions, which can hinder a unified public response to outbreaks and other urgent issues. AHF is exploring ways to better connect these organizations for more efficient and consistent responses.

[11:36] – Expanding the Meaning of ‘Public Health’

“It’s not just measles and mumps.”

AHF has also been at the forefront of expanding what it means to administer public health. It’s gone beyond vaccinations to include education, informing the public of their public health rights and responsibilities, and helping improve the lives and wellbeing of people of all backgrounds and levels of health.

[13:48] – The Power of Advocacy

How one voice becomes many

This week’s guests note how it can sometimes feel like one voice can be ineffective, but the power of advocacy is that one voice can influence another, and another, and eventually those unified voices can influence a person or organization with the power to make change. That’s when real progress happens, and it all begins with individual advocacy.

[20:17] – Expanding the Reach of the AHF

From AIDS to food shortages

Today, the AHF is working with their affiliates on a unique type of pandemic— the pandemic of food deserts, which describe residential areas without easy and nearby access to healthy groceries. This inequity often divides along economic, class, and racial lines, making the matter even more pressing.

[24:52] – Race and Public Health

Many public health issues must be viewed in context of race

The connection between race and public health inequity is becoming more and more apparent with better, less biased research, and the results are troubling. Still, organizations like the AHF are working to eliminate these inequities and ensure that everyone has the same level of access to public health facilities and programs, regardless of race or background.

RESOURCES:

• [0:16] – AIDS Healthcare Foundation Website
• [6:08] – Timeline of AHF History
• [8:15] – AHF Global Health Institute

FOLLOW:

• Follow Tracy Jones: LinkedIn
• Follow Whitney Engeran: