Health is personal, but many of the systems that shape our health are not.

Healthcare coverage. Prescription drug affordability. Disability protections. Research funding. Transportation. Food access. Housing. Environmental conditions. Community health resources.

Decisions about these issues can affect whether people are able to access care, afford treatment, manage chronic conditions, and maintain their quality of life.

That connection is at the heart of Civic Health Month, recognized each August to highlight the relationship between civic participation and health.

For The AIP BIPOC Network (ABN), it also reinforces something central to our advocacy work: advocacy does not start or end at the doctor’s office. Our voices, experiences, and participation matter in the systems that shape our health.

Key Takeaways

August is Civic Health Month, highlighting the connection between civic participation and health.
Public policies and community decisions influence many of the conditions that affect health and healthcare.
Civic engagement includes voting, advocacy, community participation, public comment, and sharing lived experiences.
People living with autoimmune disease and chronic illness can be directly affected by decisions involving healthcare coverage, medications, disability supports, research, and other public policies.
ABN provides access to nonpartisan voter resources through Vot-ER and is also part of Civic Health Alliance.
Civic health is nonpartisan. It is about participation and ensuring communities have opportunities to make their voices heard.

What Is Civic Health Month?

Civic Health Month is observed every August to recognize the connection between civic participation and individual and community health.

Led by Vot-ER, Civic Health Month brings healthcare organizations, community organizations, professional associations, and other partners together around the idea that civic engagement has a place in conversations about health.

The connection matters because many of the conditions influencing our health are shaped outside traditional healthcare settings.

Where we live, whether nutritious food is accessible, whether transportation is available, what healthcare services are covered, how medications are paid for, and what community resources receive funding can all be influenced by public decisions.

Civic health asks us to consider another question alongside our traditional conversations about healthcare:

Do people have meaningful opportunities to participate in the decisions affecting their health and their communities?

Civic Health Is About More Than Voting

Voting is an important part of civic health, but civic engagement is much broader.

It can include:

Registering and voting
Learning about issues affecting your community
Contacting elected officials
Participating in public meetings and listening sessions
Responding to public comment opportunities
Joining community organizations and coalitions
Participating in advocacy
Sharing lived experiences with policymakers and researchers
Helping others access reliable, nonpartisan civic information

Not everyone will participate in the same way.

Someone managing chronic illness, disability, caregiving responsibilities, work, or other demands may engage differently from someone else. Civic participation should not be measured by one activity alone.

What matters is that people have opportunities to understand the issues, participate when and how they can, and make their voices heard.

Why Is Civic Engagement a Health Issue?

Many of the conditions that shape our health are influenced by decisions made outside the doctor’s office.

Public policies can affect healthcare coverage, prescription drug affordability, disability services, research funding, transportation, food access, housing, environmental conditions, and community resources.

These decisions can influence whether people are able to access care, afford treatment, and manage their health.

That is what makes civic engagement a health issue. Participating in the decisions that shape our communities gives people another way to advocate for the conditions that support healthier lives.

Why Civic Health Matters for Autoimmune Disease and Chronic Illness

People living with chronic conditions often interact with healthcare and public systems repeatedly, sometimes for decades.

They may navigate specialist shortages, insurance requirements, prior authorizations, medication costs, disability systems, workplace accommodations, transportation challenges, and gaps in community resources.

Those experiences provide valuable information about where systems work and where they fall short.

Civic engagement creates opportunities to bring those experiences into larger conversations.

That could mean voting in an election. It could also mean submitting a public comment on a proposed healthcare policy, participating in an advocacy campaign, attending a community meeting, contacting an elected official, participating in research, or sharing a personal story to help decision-makers understand the real-world impact of a policy.

Lived experience is valuable knowledge.

The people most affected by health decisions should have opportunities to be part of the conversations surrounding them.

ABN, Vot-ER, and Getting Vote Ready

ABN has already begun incorporating nonpartisan civic engagement resources into our Powering Advocacy work.

Through Vot-ER, ABN provides our community with access to tools that can help eligible voters:

Check their voter registration
Register to vote or update their information
Find election information
Locate voting resources
Prepare to vote

Vot-ER is a national, nonpartisan organization working to integrate civic engagement into healthcare and health-related settings.

For ABN, providing these resources is not about telling anyone who to vote for.

It is about helping people have access to the information they need to participate.

Advocacy does not start or end at the doctor’s office. It includes using your voice, your vote, and your influence.

Get Vote Ready with ABN

ABN and Civic Health Alliance

ABN is also part of Civic Health Alliance, connecting our organization to a broader community working at the intersection of health and civic participation.

Through this connection, ABN has access to resources, learning opportunities, and relationships that can strengthen our understanding of civic health and support our broader advocacy efforts.

Participation in Civic Health Alliance complements ABN’s work to help communities understand how their voices and lived experiences can contribute to the decisions and systems that shape health.

How Civic Health Connects to ABN’s Dual AIP Framework

ABN approaches health through a dual AIP framework: the Autoimmune Protocol and Access, Inclusion, and Prevention.

Civic health connects particularly closely with Access, Inclusion, and Prevention.

Access

Access is not limited to getting through the door of a doctor’s office.

Policies and systems can influence access to healthcare coverage, specialists, medications, disability benefits, transportation, nutritious food, community programs, and reliable health information.

Understanding and engaging with those systems is part of addressing access.

Inclusion

People affected by health policies should have opportunities to participate in the conversations shaping them.

That includes communities whose experiences have historically been overlooked in healthcare, research, policy, and advocacy.

Civic health provides another pathway for bringing those perspectives forward.

Prevention

Prevention also requires looking upstream.

Social, environmental, economic, and policy conditions can contribute to health disparities long before someone reaches a healthcare crisis.

Addressing those conditions requires both individual action and systems-level change.

Civic health also puts ABN’s Advocacy pillar into practice. Through Powering Advocacy, we help people move from understanding the systems that affect their health to recognizing meaningful ways they can participate, share their experiences, and make their voices heard.

Civic Health Is Nonpartisan

ABN’s civic health work is nonpartisan. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, we do not endorse candidates or tell people how to vote.

Our role is to help our community understand how civic decisions can affect health, connect people with reliable resources, and encourage informed participation.

You decide what issues matter to you, how you participate, and how you vote.

Your Voice Is Part of Your Health

Civic participation does not have to look the same for everyone.

You can start with the issues that affect you and your community. Learn who makes decisions about those issues. Ask questions. Share your lived experience. Pay attention when policies change. Check your voter registration and learn what is on your ballot.

For people living with autoimmune disease and chronic illness, those experiences can provide important insight into where healthcare and community systems are working and where change is needed.

This Civic Health Month, ABN encourages our community to recognize that our voices are part of how change happens.

Our experiences matter. Our communities should be represented. And the people most affected by health decisions should have opportunities to help shape them.

Get Vote Ready!

Check your voter registration, update your information, find election resources, and prepare to vote using ABN’s nonpartisan Vot-ER resource.