Today, we launch the BIOEquality Agenda, an action plan to find solutions to inequitable health care delivery and eliminate economic, nutritional, and environmental disparities.
In the coming years, we will aggressively pursue the BIOEquality Agenda and promote justice through equity—with enhanced education, collaboration, and advocacy.
The agenda revolves around 3 pillars of change:
1. Promote health equity. We will work to make clinical trials more diverse, push for zero patient cost-sharing for COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics for uninsured and underserved populations, and improve health opportunities in economically disadvantaged communities.
2. Invest in the current and the next generation of scientists. We’ll promote STEM education and career training particularly for Black and Latino communities and creating networking opportunities and platforms, among other programs.
3. Expand opportunities for women and other underrepresented populations. It’s important to promote minority- and women-owned small businesses in biotech supply chains to promote the economic development of marginalized communities, especially those hit the hardest by COVID-19. Specifically, we’ll promote diversity of the NIH Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grants.
Why it matters: COVID-19 disproportionately affects Black and African American communities—the latest in a long line of diseases that show stark disparities in health outcomes. As we’re developing vaccines, treatments, and cures for this disease and others—as well as solutions for climate change, agriculture, and manufacturing—it’s critically important the biotech industry is representative of and accessible to ALL people.
Watch Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath talk about the BIOEquality Agenda:
