Health Equity & Diversity

What is health equity?

Health equity: Health equity means that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible. This requires removing obstacles to health such as poverty, discrimination and their consequences, including powerlessness and lack of access to good jobs with fair pay; quality education and housing; safe environments; and healthcare.
- For the purposes of measurement, health equity means reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in health and its determinants that adversely affect excluded or marginalized groups.
- Health equity is the ethical and human rights principle motivating efforts to eliminate health disparities; health disparities are the metric for assessing progress toward health equity (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation).
Health inequity: Health inequity refers to the uneven distribution of social and economic resources that impact an individual’s health. Inequities often stem from structural racism or the historical disenfranchisement and discrimination of particular groups, including racial and ethnic groups, individuals with lower incomes and members of the LGBTQ community. These groups and many others have been and continue to be withheld from obtaining resources that are needed to be healthy, and are disproportionately exposed to a combination of health risks such as poverty, violence and environmental health hazards. Inequities in health often result in disparities in health outcomes between populations (Adapted from American Public Health Association report Creating the Healthiest Nation: Advancing Health Equity).
- For example: Access to community/health resources such as limited public transportation routes as a result of redlining in the greater Seattle area.

What is health disparity?

Health disparity: A health disparity exists when an outcome is seen to a greater or lesser extent between populations. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion (healthypeople.gov). Disparities in health and in the key determinants of health are the metric for assessing progress toward health equity (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation). For example: Higher rate of missed appointments for Black and African American patients.
Health disparity and health inequality are synonyms; disparity is used more often in the United States, while other countries use inequality.
- Health disparities/inequalities are how we measure progress toward health equity. Health equity is the underlying principle that motivates action to eliminate health disparities/inequalities (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation).

Building Research Partnerships across Texas HSIs

Minority-serving Institutions In Texas
Public or Private	Type of Institution	Name	Location
Pub 4yr	HSI	Angelo State University	San Angelo
Pub 4yr	HSI	Brazosport College	Lake Jackson
Pub 4yr	HBCU	Prairie View Agricultural & Mechanical University	Prairie View
Pub 4yr	HSI	South Texas College	McAllen
Pub 4yr	HSI	Sul Ross State University	Alpine
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas A&M International University	Laredo
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi	Corpus Christi
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas A&M University - Kingsville	Kingsville
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas A&M University-San Antonio	San Antonio
Pub 4yr	HBCU	Texas Southern University	Houston
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas State University	San Marcos
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas Tech University	Lubbock
Pub 4yr	HSI	Texas Woman's University	Denton
Pub 4yr	AANAPISI & HSI	University of Houston	Houston
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Houston - Clear Lake	Houston
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Houston - Downtown	Houston
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Houston - Victoria	Victoria
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of North Texas at Dallas	Dallas
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley	Edinburg
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Texas at Arlington	Arlington
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Texas at El Paso	El Paso
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Texas at San Antonio	San Antonio
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio	San Antonio
Pub 4yr	HSI	University of Texas of the Permian Basin	Odessa
Pri 4yr	HSI	Concordia University Texas	Austin
Pri 4yr	PBI	Dallas Nursing Institute	Dallas
Pri 4yr	HSI	Hallmark University	San Antonio
Pri 4yr	HSI	Houston Baptist University	Houston
Pri 4yr	HBCU	Huston - Tillotson University	Austin
Pri 4yr	HBCU	Jarvis Christian College	Hawkins
Pri 4yr	HSI	McMurry University	Abilene
Pri 4yr	HSI	Our Lady of The Lake University	San Antonio
Pri 4yr	HBCU	Paul Quinn College	Dallas
Pri 4yr	HSI	Remington College	Garland
Pri 4yr	HSI	Remington College-Fort Worth Campus	Fort Worth
Pri 4yr	HSI & PBI	Remington College-North Houston Campus	Houston
Pri 4yr	HSI	Schreiner University	Kerrville
Pri 4yr	HSI	Southwestern Adventist University	Keene
Pri 4yr	HBCU	Southwestern Christian College	Terrell
Pri 4yr	HSI	St. Edward's University	Austin
Pri 4yr	HSI	St. Mary's University	San Antonio
Pri 4yr	HBCU	Texas College	Tyler
Pri 4yr	HSI	Texas Lutheran University	Seguin
Pri 4yr	HSI	Texas Wesleyan University	Fort Worth
Pri 4yr	AANAPISI & HSI	University of Saint Thomas	Houston
Pri 4yr	HSI	University of the Incarnate Word	San Antonio
Pri 4yr	HBCU	Wiley College	Marshall
Pub 2 yr	AANAPISI & HSI	Brookhaven College	Farmers Branch
Pub 2 yr	HSI & PBI	Cedar Valley College	Lancaster
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Cisco College	Cisco
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Clarendon College	Clarendon
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Coastal Bend College	Beeville
Pub 2 yr	HSI	College of the Mainland	Texas City
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Del Mar College	Corpus Christi
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Eastfield College	Mesquite
Pub 2 yr	HSI	El Centro College	Dallas
Pub 2 yr	HSI	El Paso Community College	El Paso
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Frank Phillips College	Borger
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Galveston College	Galveston
Pub 2 yr	AANAPISI & HSI	Houston Community College	Houston
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Howard County Junior College District	Big Spring
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Lamar State College - Port Arthur	Port Arthur
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Laredo College	Laredo
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Lee College	Baytown
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Lone Star College System	The Woodlands
Pub 2 yr	HSI	McLennan Community College	Waco
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Mountain View College	Dallas
Pub 2 yr	AANAPISI & HSI	North Lake College	Irving
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Northeast Texas Community College	Mount Pleasant
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Northwest Vista College	San Antonio
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Odessa College	Odessa
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Palo Alto College	San Antonio
Pub 2 yr	AANAPISI & HSI	Richland College	Dallas
Pub 2 yr	HBCU	Saint Philip's College	San Antonio
Pub 2 yr	HSI	San Antonio College	San Antonio
Pub 2 yr	HSI	San Jacinto Community College District	Pasadena
Pub 2 yr	HSI	South Plains College	Levelland
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Southwest Texas Junior College	Uvalde
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Tarrant County College District	Fort Worth
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Temple College	Temple
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Texas Southmost College	Brownsville
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Texas State Technical College	Waco
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Vernon College	Vernon
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Victoria College	Victoria
Pub 2 yr	HSI	Western Texas College	Snyder
Pub 2 yr	AANAPISI & HSI	Wharton County Junior College	Wharton
Private 2 yr	HSI	Altierus Career College-Arlington	Arlington
Private 2 yr	HSI & PBI	Altierus Career College-Bissonnet	Houston
Private 2 yr	HSI	Altierus Career College-Fort Worth South	Ft Worth
Private 2 yr	HSI	Jacksonville College	Jacksonville
Private 2 yr	HSI	Remington College-Houston Southeast Campus	Webster