Health Equity through Analytics (HExA): Infrastructure has been saved
Analysis
Health Equity through Analytics (HExA): Infrastructure
Analyzing effects of infrastructure on health outcomes
Explore the foundational role of physical infrastructure—housing, commute, and technology—in shaping health outcomes. Our in-depth analysis explores how these important environmental elements intersect with other direct factors, offering actionable solutions to enhance health equity and drive meaningful change in community well-being.
How can infrastructure affect health outcomes?
Infrastructure plays an important role in community health, influencing outcomes through various direct and indirect pathways. Key takeaways from the report include:
- Homeownership: A significant milestone that can also introduce stress, particularly when debt-to-income ratios are high, potentially contributing to poorer health outcomes.
- Dense housing: While dense urban areas may face challenges, they often provide better access to services and foster social connectedness, which can enhance community health.
- Remote work: Offers health benefits by reducing commute times and can differently impact various income groups, highlighting the need for community-specific solutions.
- Digital access: Broadband and technology significantly support community health, but benefits can vary based on county income and other socioeconomic factors.
- Infrastructure overall involves additional contextualization from other more direct drivers of health for comprehensive solutioning.
This brief overview frames the depth of our analysis, emphasizing the nuanced interplay between infrastructure and health. Download the complete report for a deeper dive into the data.
About the HExA series
The Deloitte Health Equity Institute’s Health Equity through Analytics (HExA) series explores relationships between drivers of health—all the social, environmental, and economic factors that influence health—and health outcomes, identifying actionable trends through a quantitative lens. The main goals of the HExA series are to deepen our knowledge on drivers of health, detangle and segment analyses, and share knowledge broadly in order to inspire conversation and catalyze collaborations that ultimately address root causes.
We recognize that real-world health care issues are highly nuanced, complex, and multifactorial. Therefore, additional real-world research is important to keep building the evidence base—and this series is just the first step.
Dive deeper into the HExA data
From housing affordability to the digital divide, our comprehensive report examines the intricate ways in which infrastructure can affect health outcomes.
Implications for action
We may see the greatest opportunity for impact on health outcomes by considering structural and indirect drivers of health (e.g., infrastructure) in combination with more direct and individual drivers of health (e.g., social connectedness), rather than as stand-alone contributors. Findings from our analysis suggest the following:
How stakeholders can lean in
Community leaders and policymakers
Infrastructure decisions often lie with local governments and policymakers. It’s important to understand the complex interplay between infrastructural and individual health drivers to craft tailored, effective health policies.
Additionally, there should be continued consideration beyond simply the access to the systems.
- For example, medical technology providers and community stakeholders can work together to understand how the community may best benefit from the availability of the technology through other more individual and community-specific programs. These may include education and training components that allow the systems to be used to their greatest potential.
Health care providers
Health professionals can collaborate with community leaders to align structural and individual health initiatives, leveraging infrastructure improvements for broader community health benefits.
- Providers may also consider collecting additional data on the drivers of health to support targeted and evidence-based infrastructural changes within the community.
Get in touch
If you’d like to talk more about infrastructure as a driver of health, or the emerging opportunities our strategies can present for your organization, let’s have a conversation.
Elya Papoyan, MPH |
Endpoints
1Alessa Riva et al., “Can homes affect well-being? A scoping review among housing conditions, indoor environmental quality, and mental health outcomes,” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 23 (November 2022): 15975; Amy Clair and Amanda Hughes, “How renting could affect your health,” World Economic Forum, February 11, 2019; Meridith Sones, “How social connectedness between neighbors supports health and well-being,” Hey Neighbor Collective, June 3, 2022.
2Kiron Chatterjee et al., The commuting and wellbeing study: Understanding the impact of commuting on people’s lives (Bristol, UK: University of the West of England) October 23, 2017; Jaana I. Halonen et al., “Commuting time to work and behaviour-related health: A fixed-effect analysis,” Occupational and Environmental Medicine 77, no. 2 (2020); pp. 77–83; Kathryn Vasel, “Two years later, remote work has changed millions of careers,” CNN Business, March 18, 2022.
3Federal Communications Commission (FCC), “Studies and data analytics on broadband and health,” January 26, 2024.
Recommendations
The Deloitte Health Equity Institute
Learn how the Deloitte Health Equity Institute is translating purpose into action to advance health equity.
Addressing the drivers of health to improve health outcomes
There’s a deep relationship between the drivers of health and health outcomes—and it’s not always equitable. Explore the connections.
