Live Long and Well agenda

Boston will soon channel $5 million into local coalitions working to tackle longstanding health disparities that have contributed to shorter life spans in parts of the city.

Dr. Elsie Taveras grew up in the shadow of a large health system on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Despite the physical proximity, the health system wasn’t ready or equipped to care for the growing immigrant community on its doorstep.

Under a campaign called the Live Long and Well Agenda, the city is looking to target overdose deaths, cardiometabolic diseases and preventable cancers — conditions that disproportionately affect communities of color and that the commission has identified as the leading causes of premature death in those communities of color.