Box 1 Key definitions

Equity-Oriented Health Care (EOHC): The EQUIP Healthcare Model

An approach to care that considers the effects of structural inequities, including the inequitable distribution of the determinants of health (such as poverty, lack of affordable housing); the impact of intersecting forms of racism, discrimination and stigma (e.g., related to mental illness, substance use, non-conforming gender identities, etc.) on people’s access to services and their experiences of care; and the frequent disconnect between usual approaches to care and the needs of people who are most affected by health and social inequities (Cited with permission from Browne et al., 2018, p. 2)

EQUIP’s “take” on Equity-Oriented Health Care incorporates the three key dimensions, listed below, which overlap and can be tailored to any health care setting

Trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC):

Recognizing and limiting the effects of trauma and violence, including structural violence, on peoples’ lives, health and care experiences

Cultural safety (CS):

The practice of actively reducing power imbalances, systemic racism, and discrimination in clinical encounters

Harm reduction:

A focus on preventing harms from substance use and intersecting forms of stigma, and attention to the notion of substance use health, as the achievement of self-defined goals of well-being across the continuum of substance use ranging from no substance use to substance use disorder. Providing substance use health care requires a) deprioritizing abstinence as the primary success outcome of health care, b) removing barriers to care, including intersecting forms of stigma, and c) facilitating access to social determinants of health for those with limited access [29]