Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick

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Unnatural CausesIs Inequality Making Us Sick?

• A four-hour documentary series
• Public Impact Campaign
• Produced by California Newsreel with Vital
  Pictures
• Presented by the National Minority Consortia of
  Public Television
• Impact Campaign in association with the Health
  Policy Institute

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Unnatural Causes brings together

• A pioneering PBS documentary series
• DVD release
• A companion Web site
• An ambitious Outreach and Public Impact Campaign
  to help reframe the nations debate over health
  and what we as a society canand shoulddo to
  reduce our alarming socio-economic and racial
  health disparities.

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The Seriesseven episodes

• Sick of It (wt) the opening hour-long episode
  sets out the series over-arching themes
• Health and longevity are correlated with
  socio-economic status,
• People of color face an additional burden, and
• Solutions lie in making this an urgent public
  policy matter.

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The Series (cont)

• The following six 25 minute stories deepen
  understanding of different pathways. Each of the
  stories is set in a different ethnic/racial
  community
• Place Matters (wt) The impact of neighborhood
  environments on health
• Is America Making Us Sick? (wt) The Latino
  paradox
• When the Bough Breaks (wt) Pre-term births in
  African American women
• Bad Sugar (wt) Historical trauma, poverty and
  diabetes in Native American communities
• More than a Paycheck (wt) Impact of unemployment
  in a white, blue-collar semi-rural community
• Specks on a Map (wt) The affects of US policy and
  globalization in the Pacific Islands

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The Public Impact CampaignWe need new
prescriptions

• Universal preschool, affordable housing, living
  wage jobs, integrated communities, quality
  schools, affirmative action, more control over
  our work lives, a non-toxic food industry,
  universal health care...
• These are as much health policies as diet,
  smoking and exercise.

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CAMPAIGN GOALSMoving Upstream

• Help introduce the importance of equity and
  social justice (jobs, labor policy, housing,
  community development, affirmative action,
  education) into discussions of health
• Inject health consequences into debates over
  social and economic policies
• Health disparities is a societal problem, not a
  niche or special interest

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A Broad-Based, Multi-Tiered Effort

• Media Relations
• Targeted Outreach
• Outreach Partners
• Using the series as a tool to educate, organize
  and advocate for health equity
• Interactive Companion Web Site
• Educational Dissemination

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Media Relations

• Press campaign will generate coverage of how
  inequities in the rest of our lives affect
  population health
• Release of briefing papers, including The Facts,
  by the MacArthur Network
• Television Critics
• Off-the-Critics-Page Campaign (columnists,
  feature writers, health journalists, ethnic
  media, Op-eds)
• New Media (bloggers, YouTube clips)
• Radio Tour
• Collaborations with other media platforms

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FOUR OUTREACH ARENAS

• Briefing Elected Officials and the Policy
  Community Change from within
• Mobilizing Public Health Organizations
  Constructing a new consensus
• Engaging Non-Health Stakeholders (e.g. labor,
  housing, racial justice, child development,
  faith-based, etc.) Building cross-sectoral
  alliances
• Highlighting Community Health Equity Initiatives
  Building Healthy Neighborhoods

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A Tool to

• Educate
• Raise awareness of the extent and root causes of
  health inequities demonstrate that we as a
  society can make different policy choices
• Organize
• Reach out and build alliances with other
  stakeholder groups connect people to health
  equity initiatives
• Advocate
• Bring mobilized constituencies together to
  educate public officials and advocate for policy
  changes

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Over 70 Outreach Partners to date

• American Public Health Association
• Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum
• Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership
• The Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust
• Families USA
• Joint Center Health Policy Institute
• Kaiser Permanente
• MacArthur Network
• March of Dimes
• National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
  

• National Association of County and City Health
  Officials
• National Council of Churches
• National Policy Alliance
• Northwest Federation of Community Organizations
• Opportunity Agenda
• PolicyLink
• The Praxis Project
• Society for Public Health Education
• Summit Health Institute for Research and
  Education
• West Harlem Environmental Action
• Strategic Partner / Outreach Steering
  Committee

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Partner Activities Examples

• NACCHO
• 100 Town Hall Meetings
• 2007 Annual Conference kick-off event
• 1000 Internal Trainings
• Joint Center Health Policy Institute
• Support Fair Health movement Seven initiatives
• Win buy-in and support for Place Matters
  policy innovations with public officials and
  other stakeholders.
• American Public Health Association
• Fall 2007 Washington, DC Annual Meeting plenary
• Coordinate Congressional Briefings

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Campaign Support Tools

• Briefing Papers - Social Policy is Health Policy
• Community Action Tool-Kit
• Facilitator Guides, Host Guides
• Case Studies
• Press Kit
• Handouts and Media Sidebars
• Getting Connected Data Base

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Companion Web Site

• A hub for outreach and an online entry point for
  the public, students, teachers, health workers,
  other stakeholders and the press
• Social AutopsiesInteractivities and Simulations
• Community Action Center Toolkits, Data Base and
  Wiki-Spaces
• Reading Room Webisodes
• The Learning Center
• The Series
• Press Room

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Educational Dissemination

• California Newsreels nationally recognized
  video and DVD distribution will place the series
  and ancillary materials into high schools,
  colleges, health institutions, community centers,
  churches and others organizations around the
  country.

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Unnatural Causes Series Public Impact Campaign

• The efficacy of any social change oriented film
  must ultimately be measured by how well it
  intervenes in public debate.

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California Newsreel

• 500 Third Street, 505
• San Francisco, CA 94107
• 415-284-7800
• www.newsreel.org