Abstract
Health disparities in childhood are widespread and are exacerbated by risks related to social and structural determinants of health. Such factors, including substandard housing and food insecurity, contribute to adverse health outcomes. For example, much is now known about the higher incidence and severity of asthma among children living in substandard housing. A medical-legal partnership (MLP) is an interdisciplinary collaboration between a medical entity such as a hospital or clinic and a legal entity such as a nonprofit legal aid office or law school. Through MLPs, healthcare and legal teams share the same approach to improving health for the children and families they serve by addressing factors at the root of health disparities. This multidisciplinary approach to managing, and closing, health equity gaps can have another positive side effect as well. Placing legal advocates alongside medical professionals can support advances in medical education in topics related to structural competence. Training medical students and residents in the MLP approach is an opportunity to teach the next generation of physicians the skills necessary to recognize and address barriers to health on the patient, clinic/institution, and population levels. This chapter supports such concepts through the presentation of a case related to housing and public benefit challenges frequently encountered by families in a pediatric primary care office. The case illustrates the power of an interprofessional approach to confronting real-world risks related to the social determinants of health.