Health and Health Equity in Georgia Comprehensive Plans
About this dataset:
Comprehensive planning is a structured process conducted by cities and local governments that guide land use and development decisions. While these plans address social determinants of health (SDOH) such as housing and transportation, the impact of these factors on health and health equity are rarely included.
In September 2021, Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) was selected by the federal Office of Minority Health (OMH) to lead one of six demonstration projects focused on advancing health equity through collaborative policy efforts. Over three years, MSM worked with the City of East Point, Georgia, and community partners to identify and address policies contributing to structural racism and health disparities. East Point’s five-year comprehensive plan update was identified by the community as the most promising opportunity to modify a policy to advance health equity. To inform policymaking decisions related to health equity and the comprehensive plan, MSM conducted a rapid policy surveillance study, which found that only one comprehensive plan in the state listed health equity as a community goal. The study findings supported community engagement, awareness building, and advocacy, resulting in East Point adopting health and health equity into its 2022-23 Comprehensive Plan update. More information about the project and the policy surveillance study can be found in a paper published in the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics and on the website.
Given the limited integration of health and health equity in comprehensive plans across the state, and the broader potential for expanding this approach, MSM extended the policy surveillance study to examine more comprehensive plans across Georgia and track changes over time. This dataset captures terms and provisions related to health, health equity, and SDOH in plans that were in effect between September 30, 2022 and June 11, 2025. Five-year updates across 49 jurisdictions that were published to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) website were included. Additional information on the scope of this study can be found in the research protocol.