What do injury prevention, youth and domestic violence prevention and health equity efforts have in common?
They are examples of the "curb-cut effect," solutions designed to serve the most vulnerable but which lead to large-scale benefits, says Michael Rodriguez, MD, MPH, professor and vice chair in the Department of Family Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
Altering the environment by adding rails to bathrooms, or widening doorways for people who use wheelchairs for mobility makes the world more equitable for everybody – people with injuries, families with strollers, aging populations and people with poor balance.
“It’s an example of how equity lifts all boats,” Dr. Rodriguez says.
With injury prevention, Dr. Rodriguez uses the example of fire-resistant pajamas to prevent burns. While they were intended for children, they are also useful for people with sensory challenges, elderly people whose reflexes may be slower during a fire emergency and people with diabetes, who sometimes lack feeling in their legs and toes and may not notice burns.
As for domestic violence prevention, violence disproportionately affects marginalized groups, especially those who experience multiple forms of oppression, such as low-income women, LGBTQ+ and people of color. According to the Prevention Institute, violence undermines health by causing injury, disability and premature death.
Prevention efforts for injury, violence and inequities can mean offering stable housing and economic opportunity, as well as strengthening positive connections to family, community and quality schools.
By modifying an environment – whether it’s putting fire-resistant pajamas on an elderly parent or adding quality housing and education to low-income neighborhoods – these modifications not only lift up the groups for which they were intended, they also promote equity for all.
These, Dr. Rodriguez says, are examples of the “curb-cut effect.” (author abstract)
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