‘The NHS Race and Health Observatory published an important report in 2022 that identified barriers across a range of areas – including inequalities in mental health, neonatal care, digital access, genomic services and in the healthcare workforce’

Or, when we look at the experience of individuals from the LGBT+ community in healthcare, there are stark barriers to accessing healthcare for some patients, with a significant number of people reporting that they have had a negative experience with health services because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

I know, from my own experience working in healthcare, that health inequality is not a recent phenomenon. A diagnosis of a condition or disease has never been in isolation, and the underlying causes can be linked to wider social issues, such as poverty, malnutrition and poor living conditions these issues remain as relevant today as it did when I joined the NHS in 1981. The NHS does not drive health inequalities, but it does play a part, as where you live will impact on your access to services. We have a health service based on clinical need and not the ability to pay, but we also have a health service that is not easily accessible to all. The elderly, those with mental illness, language barriers, no transport links and those less able, find themselves disadvantaged when trying to access services. As we now understand, health is more than being free of illness or disease, and there is no single solution to reducing inequalities – it requires all of us to work in collaboration to break down the barriers.

Sanofi has launched ‘A Million Conversations’ – an initiative that recognises the barriers that different communities experience in healthcare and that is also making commitments to support change.

‘A Million Conversations’ is a global initiative to rebuild trust in healthcare among the under-represented. It was launched in response to a first-of-its kind global survey of 11,500 patients that revealed that an alarming number of people from marginalised communities have had their trust in healthcare eroded by past negative experiences. We call this the ‘trust gap’.

The results of the survey show how important it is to engage directly with communities and hear first-hand about their experiences. For example, the survey of five countries (the UK, the US, France, Japan and Brazil) found that people who are from an ethnic minority are 16% more likely to have had a negative experience in healthcare that has made them lose trust in the system in general. The gap was similar for people who have a disability, with 73% of people who have a disability reporting this type of negative experience, compared to just 56% of people who do not have a disability.

These learnings are so important as we continue to recover services from the experience of the pandemic and address issues in healthcare that were caused by COVID-19, including the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on certain communities. For example, as we think about the need to detect and diagnose health conditions earlier, it is crucial that people from all communities are able to access healthcare as soon as they need it – so closing the ‘trust gap’ must be a priority.

Through ‘A Million Conversations’, Sanofi is committing an investment of €50m to empower people from marginalised communities to speak directly to the healthcare industry and to develop a pipeline of diverse healthcare professionals (HCPs). This will support the establishment of the ‘Next Gen’ scholarship that will, in partnership with leading higher education institutions across the world, identify up to 100 new students from marginalised communities each year to support the next generation of HCPs.

‘Health is more than being free of illness or disease, and there is no single solution to reducing inequalities – it requires all of us to work in collaboration to break down the barriers’

Photographs feature Sanofi employees as representatives from the countries involved in A Million Conversations. © Fisheye Prod