Tackling the Health Literacy and Equity Conundrum: Ep. 25 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

·      The relationship (and discrepancies) between health equity and health equality

·      Health equity as a reputational management issue

·      The importance of cultural context in communications

·      The power of partnership in achieving health equity

·      Turning increased recognition of health equity issues into results

When it comes to health care access in the United States, not everyone is equal. This reality has only been reinforced as we’ve all dealt with COVID-19.  Major deficiencies in health care literacy have also become far more prominent over the past two years — in many cases exacerbating an already troubling situation.

In this month’s roundtable discussion featuring our Global CEO James Wright, we take a deep dive into the current state of health equity and literacy and the role that brands can play to increase health care knowledge, continuing a recent conversation hosted by Red Havas at the 2022 PR Week U.S. Healthcare + Pharma Awards & Summit.

So, what is health equity? It’s about ensuring equal access to quality health care for everybody by ending institutional and discriminatory barriers, whether it be systemic racism, sexism, poverty, or unequal distribution of resources. Healthy equality, on the other hand, means giving everyone equal opportunity and distribution of the care and services available. While achieving health equality can resolve some disparities, not enough progress can be made without also addressing health equity and the many social factors which influence people's health and wellness.

Health inequity has never been more high profile than it than it is today for our clients across the health and pharma industries," says James. "These underlying problems go back hundreds of years but have clearly surfaced during the pandemic. This is a complex issue that requires businesses, health care systems and governments to work together to address. It's driving greater diversity in the product and service portfolios of our clients, and it's increasingly becoming a subject in marketing as organizations seek to learn more about these groups to better reach and service them."

While health equity is a moral issue, it’s also emerged from the pandemic as a reputational management issue. Organizations now must clearly define what their role is, whether it's raising awareness and education on health inequity, helping clients better interact and learn from different population groups, building messaging and proof points, or promoting the products and services that are being provided and launched to diverse groups. Any brand that engages with the public must think about healthcare and how they are addressing access, equity, and inclusion.

PR experts must also look through a health equity lens to determine the preferred terms, language, and distribution channels of various diverse groups. Beyond that, we must also consider things from a cultural context — to learn how different demographics view health care providers. For example, research has shown that people from under-served populations or under-resourced populations feel more comfortable working with a provider who comes from their community or background and can instinctively understand some of their challenges, thought processes, and cultural norms.

"There's an increased recognition from the media, governments and big pharma that we need to focus on addressing health inequity," says James. "Now, that recognition needs to turn into results. We need to focus on the success of programs that have been launched and learn from areas that haven't succeeded to continue to build momentum and effect change."

The episode wraps with Red Havas VP of Content Ellen Mallernee Barnes and our Red Questionnaire guest Claire Davies, strategy director at Red Havas U.K., for a conversation spanning various topics including Claire’s outlook on time management, her favorite podcast (“The Secret History of Hollywood") and how she’d describe her job to a child.

"It's like working in shop, but instead of selling items, we sell ideas," says Claire on the latter. "I like the mental image of a shop with rows of jars with different sparks and ideas in them, waiting to be plucked and formed."

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Also mentioned on this episode:

·      2022 PR Week U.S. Healthcare + Pharma Awards & Summit

·      PR Week: Healthcare is Big Business for PR Firms

·      4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman

·      "The Secret History of Hollywood” podcast

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