Consider the following scenario: Your city council has approved the placement of a toxic waste dump in a small, low-income community. The company building the dump has hosted informational meetings, but residents rarely attend and are unaware of the proposal. The approval will bring very little economic benefit to the community. The CEO of the company feels that, since no one attended the meetings, the approval is valid. Do you agree with the CEO's claim? Why or why not? Consider the principal of social justice and include recommendations for what should have been done prior to the council meeting to ensure that the decision was ethical, fair, and valid. Describe two strategies you would implement to engage this community in advocacy for health equity.

Answer:

No in my opinion the CEO's claim is not valid because not attending the meeting cannot be confused with the approval of residents because not attending the informational meetings means that they are still unaware about the impact that this toxic waste dump will have in the community and to their health. So it is important to first make residents of community aware about the proposal of city Council so that they consider all pros and cons of setting up the waste dump before giving their approval.

As per the principle of social justice the City council and the company should have considered consulting the residents of community to get to know about their opinions and interests regarding placing of dumping waste so as to ensure that their welfare and wellbeing is put first. Thus the city council before organising the council meeting should have considered health equity by taking into consideration the closely located areas which will be most affected by placing such dumping waste, eliminating disparities on basis of income, giving open access to show involvement in the decision and the right of participation to assess the outcome to ensure that decision was ethical, fair and valid for all. Thus city Council should have informed the residents about the proposal and should have also given them right and access to give approval only after understanding the outcome of placing such toxic dumping specially to the residents of area who are very closely located to such dumping waste site.

The two important strategies that I will implement to engage the community in advocacy for heath equity will include :

Awareness and informational Camps reaching deep areas to bring awareness about the right to health equity through making the residents understand the disparities in treatment on basis of various factors such as low income,demographics etc. This awareness programs should be mandatory rather than voluntary and should be attended by the heads of each colony to seek information and fight against inequities to protect the community.

Establishing health advocacy organization and building understanding of the social determinants of health can be the another important strategy which will engage the residents into understanding these determinants to protect them through providing them vacational training and showing enough participation to protect these rights.