The past few years have laid bare many disparities in U.S. healthcare. On average, Black Americans live fewer years than white Americans — commonly due to treatable illnesses. Black mothers are 2.6x more likely to die during pregnancy from complications than their white counterparts. Additionally, non-Hispanic Black Americans tend to be diagnosed with hypertension more frequently and earlier in life.
These trends are alarming but reversable and preventable. Addressing them and achieving health equity at the point of care often requires developing treatments purpose-built for specific patient groups. For clinical researchers, healing disparities means taking all individuals and their distinct needs into account, moving beyond outdated recruitment methods to listen to and truly forge trust with the communities they seek to include. To effectively guide these improvements, leaders must understand barriers to accessing high-quality care and medications — and have a blueprint for overcoming them.
The definition of health equity
What is health equity? Simply put, health equity is ensuring that everyone has a fair and just opportunity to lead healthy lives. It involves addressing and overcoming barriers that cause disparities in health outcomes — including economic disadvantages, (intentional and unintentional) discrimination, and lack of access to resources and healthcare services. Achieving health equity is a continuous process that requires multiple efforts, such as:
- Identifying and addressing social determinants of health (SDOH): These include factors like education, income, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks. SDOH influence as much as 50% of health outcomes.
- Ensuring access to quality healthcare: This includes removing financial, geographic, and cultural barriers to healthcare services, such as addressing obstacles to care among communities of color.
- Implementing policies and practices that take diverse community experiences into account: These should promote fairness and equity, targeting systemic issues and inequalities in health and healthcare — such as FDA regulations focused on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
- Community engagement and empowerment: Involving diverse patient groups in decision-making is imperative to ensure that interventions are appropriate and effective, and that you’re moving the ball toward more equitable care. Acclinate’s signature NOWINCLUDED program actively listens to and engages communities of color to foster more inclusive clinical research.
NOWINCLUDED — Acclinate’s educational community ecosystem — engages 100,000 members across the U.S., providing a direct line to their needs and perspectives on health and clinical research.
Ultimately, health equity aims to reduce and eventually eliminate health disparities — ensuring that all individuals can achieve optimal health regardless of socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, or other social determinants.
Understanding health equity vs. health equality
Continuing off the health equity definition, it’s important to briefly touch on a common misconception. Although at times conflated, health equity and health equality maintain distinct definitions. Let’s break down health equity vs. health equality to help distinguish the two and narrow down an answer to, “what is health equity?”
Health equity focuses on ensuring that everyone has a fair opportunity to attain their highest possible level of health. It recognizes that different people have different needs and circumstances, and, therefore, might require distinct types and levels of support to achieve optimal health.
Health equality, on the other hand, refers to providing the same resources or opportunities to everyone, regardless of their starting point or individual needs. It’s based on the idea that everyone should receive the same level of support and services, regardless of current or historical factors.
Why does this difference matter? The lens through which organizations view improving health can significantly influence the approaches and outcomes of their efforts. For example, a diabetes initiative launched with a health equality strategy might extend the same education resources to all patient populations, regardless of factors like health literacy levels or collective distrust in providers. On the other hand, a similar initiative driven by health equity might adjust distributed information with messaging that would resonate with the lived experiences of each patient group — driving home the potential reasons and need for care while building two-way understanding and trust.
The importance of health equity in clinical research
We’ve asked “what is health equity?” and covered the definition of health equity. We’ve expanded on how to understand health equity vs. health equality. But why must clinical researchers care about health equity for the purposes of developing and refining medications? Health equity is critically important for:
- Helping ensure widespread application
Research findings need to be applicable to the broader population. Ensuring diverse representation in clinical trials means that results are more likely to be valid across different demographic groups, including various races, ethnicities, ages, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Additionally, different communities might have different health risks, responses to treatments, and disease progression patterns. For example, Albuterol, a routinely prescribed asthma medication, has been proven to be less effective for Black Americans and Puerto Ricans than for other racial and ethnic groups. Acclinate works through strategic partnerships to mobilize diverse participants for clinical research — supporting the identification of these differences and helping drug developers tailor interventions accordingly.
47% of NOWINCLUDED maternal health sub-group members said they were willing to participate in clinical research.
- Furthering the healthcare industry’s understanding of disparities
As important as it is for clinical researchers to understand disparities, these gaps are sometimes revealed by investigations themselves. Clinical trials that maintain a health equity focus can uncover disparities in health outcomes and access to care, highlighting areas that need targeted interventions by healthcare at large. By understanding how diseases and treatments affect different populations, researchers can develop more effective, personalized, and inclusive medical treatments and interventions that ultimately trickle down to individual patient experiences.
- Helping advance ethical practices & cultivate trust
Communities of color have plenty of historical reasons to distrust clinical trials. Conducting equitable research ensures that all population groups benefit from scientific advancements. It helps teams avoid the ethical pitfalls of exploiting or neglecting certain groups. Engaging underrepresented communities in research fosters trust and ensures that informed consent is truly informed, culturally sensitive, and respects participants’ rights and autonomy. Acclinate’s NOWINCLUDED program acts as a bridge between clinical researchers and communities of color, generating mutually beneficial connections that embolden trust.
- Enhancing scientific rigor
Including diverse populations reduces the risk of biased findings that are only applicable to a narrow segment of the population. A diverse participant pool provides a more comprehensive data set, enhancing the reliability and validity of the findings. Acclinate’s e-DICT platform leverages AI and advanced analytics to deliver accurate, up-to-date information on participation among communities of color to reinforce more effective research.
- Improving outcomes & creating efficiency
Promoting health equity through research contributes to a more just society by ensuring that advancements in medical science benefit everyone, potentially leading to more positive outcomes across all communities. Understanding the specific needs of diverse populations can also drive more efficient and cost-effective interventions, reducing the overall burden on healthcare systems. Health equity efforts can further help clinical researchers more efficiently meet regulations — preventing potential delays from not meeting DEI requirements.
Now is the time to promote health equity in clinical research
The benefits of answering “what is health equity?” and taking steps toward more equitable research are clear. By prioritizing health equity in clinical research, the scientific community can produce more comprehensive, applicable, and ethical findings, ultimately leading to better health outcomes for all populations.
With all this said, how can you ensure you’re conducting more equitable trials? The truth is that traditional recruitment simply doesn’t work. That’s why Acclinate combines community engagement with advanced AI technology to enable more effective and inclusive clinical research. To learn more, schedule a 1:1 meeting with our team.
