Health Equity and Inclusivity - Where we are now, what it looks like and what we hope for the future

Inclusivity is an issue that faces every facet of life, with access to healthcare and treatment being one of the imperative areas in need of attention and action. Here at Apollo Health Innovations, we are on a mission to spread the implementation of inclusivity and drive towards true health equity.

To do this, we need to understand the true definition of inclusivity, understand where health equity currently stands in our society and what we can do to increase inclusive health equity integration in the future.

What is Health Equity and Inclusivity?

Inclusivity is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as: “the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those having physical or mental disabilities or belonging to other minority groups”.

With this in mind, when we speak of Health Equity, it is a further extension of inclusivity. According to WHO: “[Health] Equity is the absence of unfair, avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically or by other dimensions of inequality (e.g. sex, gender, ethnicity, disability, or sexual orientation). Health is a fundamental human right. Health equity is achieved when everyone can attain their full potential for health and well-being”.

Inclusive health equity is an ideology that all healthcare workers and providers are striving for, but it is proving a difficult ideology to implement nationwide.

The Current State of Inclusive Health Equity in the UK

The NHS are tackling this issue head on within their trusts, recently stating on their website that: “We need the NHS to be a place where all are welcome, with a culture of belonging and trust, celebrating diversity in all its forms. We know discrimination, violence and bullying have no place in the NHS, and yet they exist and thrive in some places. If we do not role model this culture ourselves, how can our patients expect to be treated equitably, and as individuals’?

The NHS also stated that COVID 19 has also highlighted the lack of health equity within our communities, highlighting the following groups as being most affected:

• Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) colleagues, families, and friends
• older people
• men
• those with obesity
• those with a disability or long-term condition

What can we do to fix the issue?

Apollo Health Innovations was established to make healthcare research and innovation fully accessible to our audience. We are committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion, both amongst our employees and through all of the research projects we conduct or partner on.

We do this by creating, translating and mobilising knowledge between all stakeholders within the healthcare innovation ecosystem. We do this by increasing healthcare literacy and closing the digital divide. We also live and breathe inclusivity in our every day work by elevating inclusivity into our company policy.

Apollo is a small part of a bigger picture, but as members of the healthcare industry, we need to ensure that we are doing our part to make the goal of inclusive health equity more attainable.

How has your healthcare organisation increased health equity and inclusivity? Comment below to spread the word!

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