Achieving Health Equity Requires More than Just Good Science

People with marginalized identities face undue difficulties accessing healthcare that is often lower quality than that received by majority groups. While increasing the diversity of clinical trial participants is crucial to solving health disparities, better research alone cannot do it all – providers and patients must be actively involved in the process.

According to GSK, “The healthcare industry must earn the trust of skeptical communities who have faced medical mistreatment. GSK funds projects to build connections and earn trust in these communities by fostering greater disease awareness and better understanding of clinical research. For example, students in one for-credit college course are trained by oncologists at GSK to conduct surveys in communities of their own similar social context about ovarian cancer awareness, and then schedule follow-up phone calls to share more information for anyone interested. They learn how to analyze their data, present it at conferences, and publish manuscripts. The students also share educational information about clinical trial participation and provide resources to the community members during their outreach.”

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(Source: Endpoints News, June 6^th, 2022)