Health Inclusivity

A study by Vintura on the health-economic benefits of self-care in Europe found that 8 out of 10 individuals recognise that it is their responsibility to manage their own health and are willing to do so, but only 2 out of 10 feel very confident in doing so³. By increasing people’s understanding of, and confidence in, how to manage their own health, we can help more people take better care of their health. This in turn can empower them to adopt better health behaviours and support the growth of our brands.

We’re leveraging our purposeful brands to improve health literacy amongst people and communities who stand to benefit the most. By growing knowledge, skills and providing support, our health literacy initiatives are focused on informing and empowering people to adopt better self-care through adopting healthy living and behaviours. 

One way in which we drive greater health literacy and self-care is by engaging Health Professionals, providing them with tools and guidance to help them improve their patients’ health knowledge and understanding, empowering them to take better care of their own health. 

^{3 Source: Vintura (2020)}

66% of people surveyed as part of phase two of Economist Impact’s Health Inclusivity Index indicated they face at least one barrier in accessing healthcare services⁴. By leveraging the power of our purposeful brands and partnering with like-minded organisations, we can help improve the availability of, and access to, healthcare to better meet the needs of people who are typically held back.

^{4 Economist Impact (2023)}

Marginalised individuals and communities – those who find themselves discriminated against because of disability, age, race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality – feel the impacts of health exclusion the most. We’re focused on helping to overcome this key barrier to greater health inclusivity, by seeking to tackle bias and prejudice in health systems and challenging outdated social norms by promoting more inclusive policies and practices.

Communities across the world are facing barriers to better everyday health⁵. Challenges with health literacy, an inability to access the right care, and bias and prejudice can hold people back across the communities in which we live and work.

That is why building healthier communities is critical to making everyday health more inclusive. We identify opportunities where we can have the most impact, providing local and global charitable donations, including funding, product donations and our employees’ time through volunteering initiatives.

Central to our efforts is working closely with our trusted partners, including Smile Train and Direct Relief. Together, we pair Haleon’s expertise, products, strategic charitable investments, and the passion of our people with our partners’ infrastructure and intimate understanding of the issues faced by our communities to deliver impactful programmes. In addition to the development and execution of key global programmes like these, our local markets are also working to translate ambition into action by developing locally targeted initiatives.

^{5 World Health Organization (no date)}

^{Image credit: WWF South Africa}

By understanding and exploring where barriers exist to better everyday health, we can inform our own actions and work with others to help address barriers to health inclusion. That is why we are investing in health inclusivity research to deepen our understanding of the barriers to health inclusivity and what we and others can do to overcome them. Investing in research helps inform our own and others’ actions and opens opportunities for collaboration to increase the scale of initiatives to improve health inclusivity.

Click here to learn more about how we are investing in research and action.