Achieving Health Equity – the state in which everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health – remains a complex and enduring societal challenge. As a recent OPRG report sheds light on the systemic problems that continue to plague health equity, Porter Novelli has launched a powerful strategic process to help companies of all kinds become part of the solution.
Discrimination and Broken Trust
The Intersection of Health Equity in Communities & Business Strategy: A Call-to-Action, an eye-opening new report by Omnicom PR Group and The Atlantic, reveals surprising insights about the lived experiences of diverse communities around the globe and their access to healthcare. Data shows that 62% of respondents reported experiencing explicit discrimination when seeking healthcare, while 77% report lack of trust in the healthcare system. These findings were most pronounced among non-White, LGBTQAI+, and immigrant communities.
Health Equity is every company’s business.
Clearly, achieving health equity is a moral imperative. But in today’s corporate landscape, it has evolved into something more: a business imperative, with multiple implications that can impact a company’s success. In addressing social injustice, companies face both a unique responsibility and significant opportunities.
In terms of corporate reputation, today’s customers, shareholders and employees demand that businesses carefully examine all aspects of their operations and behaviors – and for those who fall short, they’re standing at the ready to hold them to account.
Health equity can also shape product development. Diversity in clinical trials is a powerful example of this. By ensuring that medications are tested across a representative cross-section of the population, researchers can better assess treatment efficacy and safety across different ethnic and demographic groups.
Committing to health equity also fuels employee engagement. By ensuring that all individuals have access to resources and opportunities, Health equity strengthens corporate culture, and fosters a more inclusive and motivated workforce, which has been shown to support retention, growth and profitability.
Do right. Do well. Do business better.
Porter Novelli is the strategic communications company built on purpose to do business better. In line with our long-standing commitment to health equity, we’re thrilled to launch a tool that melds these core attributes of strategy, purpose and helping our clients to thrive.
As part of our Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) advisory services, Porter Novelli’s Equity Intervention is a proprietary strategy for putting organizational beliefs about the importance of health equity into action.
Our JEDI experts begin by assessing a company’s current state in relation to systemic inadequacies across multiple dimensions, including properties and assets, clients and barriers, while helping companies discern their greatest opportunity for impact.
Based on these assessments, they design an intervention unique to a company’s individual goals. They then support adoption through strategic communications that incite action.
This process cultivates deep insight, helping companies define, shape, and communicate their role in creating health equity, while clarifying and harmonizing the distinct needs of stakeholders.
It’s time to make some bold moves.
Ultimately, Equity Intervention empowers companies to differentiate themselves in the marketplace and drive forward health equity in ways that are authentic to their unique organization, mission and purpose.
What role does your business play in the world? By clarifying and confronting the issues you face, you’ll not only do business better, but become a force for good.
Learn more about Porter Novelli’s Equity Intervention offering here.