About ACHIEVE
A lack of health literacy, or an individual’s ability to obtain and understand basic health information, often influences the health and well-being of the community. With problems including access to healthcare, chronic conditions, and behavioral health and substance abuse issues influencing the health of Huntingdon County, Juniata College, Huntingdon Area High School, and other community organizations have partnered to implement a health literacy program inspired by research about the relationship between health literacy and health outcomes.
The ACHIEVE program will educate high school youth to live healthy lives and access resources in the community. Program participants will receive a health literacy education through modules and will have the opportunity to address a problem in the community associated with a social determinant of health through community health innovation projects.
The ACHIEVE program is fully funded and supported by Juniata College and Penn Highlands Huntingdon.
Social Determinants of Health
ACHIEVE uses the Social Determinants of Health as a guide for its curriculum and goals. The CDC defines Social Determinants of Health as “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.”
The CDC outlines the following 5 social determinants of health.
Health Care Access and Quality
Goal: Increase access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.
The connection between people’s access to and understanding of health services and their own health. This domain includes key issues such as access to healthcare, access to primary care, health insurance coverage, and health literacy.
Economic Stability
Goal: Help people earn steady incomes that allow them to meet their health needs.
The connection between the financial resources people have0 income, cost of living, and socioeconomic status- and their health. This area includes key issues such as poverty, employment, food security, and housing stability.
Social and Community Context
Goal: Increase social and community support.
The connection between characteristics of the contexts within which people live, learn, work, and play, and their health and wellbeing. This includes topics like cohesion within a community, civic participation, discrimination, conditions in the workplace, and incarceration.
Neighborhood and Built Environment
Goal: Create neighborhoods & environments that promote health and safety.
The connection between where a person lives- housing, neighborhood, environment- and their wellbeing. This includes topics like quality of housing, access to transportation, availability of healthy foods, air & water quality, neighborhood crime & violence.
Education Access and Quality
Goal: Increase educational opportunities and help children and adolescents do well in school.
The connection of education to health and wellbeing. This domain includes key issues such as graduating from high school, enrollment in higher education, educational attainment in general, language and literacy, and early childhood education and development.