Community-Based Strategies to Tackle Health Disparities and Promote Equity

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 August 2026 | Viewed by 482

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Medicine for the Greater Good, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 733 N Broadway, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
Interests: health equity; community engagement; population health; mortality; morbidity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to submit your research to our Special Issue, entitled “Community-Based Strategies to Tackle Health Disparities and Promote Equity”. This Special Issue will promote health equity through the lens of effective, efficient, and generalizable strategies.

This Special Issue’s purpose is to draw attention to the great research being conducted regarding populations impacted by dire health issues that result in negative health outcomes. Submissions will be novel and sustainable, identifying key strategies that can be successful and significant on a general platform.

This Special Issue will promote strategies that impact diverse populations in order to promote health equity and population health. Though this Special Issue has a specific focus area, it lies within the scope of Healthcare, a journal aimed at promoting healthcare insights across the spectrum of diseases and patient population.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: health equity, population health, longitudinal evaluations of lifestyles and health outcomes, community engagement efforts, and cost-effectiveness analyses, along with feasibility studies.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • health equity
  • community engagement
  • population health
  • mortality
  • morbidity

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 502 KB  
Article
“It Can Hurt Your Heart”: A Co-Designed Cross-Sectional Survey Exploring Pacific People’s Understanding of Rheumatic Fever in Auckland, New Zealand
by Siobhan Tu’akoi, Malakai ‘Ofanoa, Samuela ‘Ofanoa, Melenaite Tohi, Maryann Heather, Hinamaha Lutui, Rose Lamont, Elizabeth Fanueli and Felicity Goodyear-Smith
Healthcare 2025, 13(22), 2924; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13222924 - 15 Nov 2025
Viewed by 295
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Rheumatic fever is preventable and can be treated successfully; however, a lack of understanding of the disease and barriers to timely healthcare can impact outcomes. Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand experience inequitable burdens, and a Pacific community group and health [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Rheumatic fever is preventable and can be treated successfully; however, a lack of understanding of the disease and barriers to timely healthcare can impact outcomes. Pacific people in Aotearoa New Zealand experience inequitable burdens, and a Pacific community group and health professional network are working together to co-design education initiatives. This descriptive, mixed-methods study aimed to (1) explore Pacific people’s awareness and understanding of rheumatic fever, (2) describe where Pacific people access health information. Methods: An online survey co-developed with Pacific community members was run from December 2024 to February 2025. Questions related to sore throats, rheumatic fever, medication adherence, long-term outcomes and where Pacific people access health information. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively using SPSS version 28 and open-ended qualitative responses were analyzed using an inductive content analysis approach. Results: A total of 400 Pacific respondents were included: 34% were aged 16–24 years and 66% were female. Based on the analysis, 71% of Pacific participants knew that a sore throat should always be checked by a health professional and 65.3% had heard of rheumatic fever. Fever and sore throats were commonly identified as symptoms of rheumatic fever, with joint pain, body aches and chest pain mentioned less. Barriers to health services such as cost, long waiting times and cultural factors were discussed as reasons why many Pacific people often utilize social media and online forums for health information. Conclusions: This study highlights gaps in rheumatic fever knowledge and thus opportunities for health education initiatives for Pacific communities, potentially utilizing social media and online platforms. Full article
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