Bringing geospatial awareness to community pediatrics and primary care

Grave health inequities persist for children. Although the social determinants of health and perils of persistent racism are not new, our collective experience this past year provides an opportunity to reflect on how to best promote health and well-being for children growing up in the United States.

Community pediatrics is the practice of promoting and integrating the positive social, cultural, and environmental influences on children’s health. This is central to our professional identity built atop foundational insights defined by pediatricians beginning with Dr Abraham Jacobi. For years, pediatricians have innately recognized that children’s health is fundamentally linked to their home and community environments. And yet, given the magnitude of challenges before us, we must consider how our profession can evolve to meet this moment through recommitting to practicing community pediatrics and primary care.