Achieving health equity is possible, and philanthropy can help lead the way

In the month since I started at GIH, the world as we know it has drastically changed. Across the globe, nearly 2.5 million people have tested positive for COVID-19 and over 166,000 have died, including roughly 40,000 Americans. In this new reality, we have been asked to stay at home, and to cover our faces in public. Those of us who are fortunate are working from home. Children are adjusting to distance learning, while the class of 2020 prepares for a virtual graduation. Businesses along Main Streets in the largest cities and smallest towns are closed, some permanently.
And yet, much is familiar. Health care providers are caring for the sick, neighbors and loved ones are coming together to support one another, and philanthropic institutions are providing funding and flexibility to tackle the direct and indirect impacts of COVID-19. But not all familiar things are positive. The pandemic has underscored long-standing racial and ethnic and geographic disparities across many areas of our health system. Numerous articles have documented racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalizations and mortality that are rooted in long-standing inequities in health care coverage and access, income, education, and employment, as well as structural discrimination. (I find it interesting that this data has emerged during National Minority Health Month, a time when many of us reflect on the racial and ethnic disparities that persist in our country.) We still do not know the full extent of the disparities for a variety of reasons, including missing and incomplete data. Moreover, parts of the country have yet to reach their peak. (author introduction) #P4HEwebinarOctober2023