April is Minority Health Month – the perfect time for health & wellness businesses to reflect on healthcare disparities and how we can serve the individuals who experience them.
It’s 2025. And in health and wellness, equity is now the blueprint.
Across the country, health systems, brands, and community leaders are waking up to an unavoidable truth: the burden of health disparities doesn’t just reflect injustice; it reflects lost potential, preventable costs, and fractured trust.
At THE 3RD EYE, we’ve learned that addressing health disparities means gaining patient trust. And we’ve seen firsthand how health and wellness businesses addressing disparities end up at the intersection of insight and innovation.
Let’s explore how your team can respond to the growing call for better health outcomes for all — especially minority populations with health disparities.
Understanding the Impact of Health Disparities
What are health disparities?
Health disparities are differences in health care outcomes, status, and access across racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic lines.
These disparities are shaped by the social determinants of health – factors like education, housing, transportation, and access to care. But they’re also deeply rooted in structural racism, historical neglect, and systems that weren’t built for equity.
Let’s talk data.
According to the National Institutes of Health,
African American men are 30% more likely to die prematurely from coronary heart disease than white men (Source: NIH).
Native American communities face diabetes mortality rates that are over double the national average (Source: NIH). Asian American subgroups, like Pacific Islanders, are often aggregated in datasets, masking specific minority health conditions such as elevated rates of liver cancer (Source: CDC).
And the disparity goes beyond disease.
Rural populations, despite comprising nearly 14% of the U.S., experience critical shortages in qualified health professionals, especially in primary care (Source: AHRQ).
The Office of Minority Health reports that gender minorities, People with Disabilities, and immigrant communities also routinely experience poor health outcomes due to compounded barriers like stigma, legal discrimination, and a lack of accessible health care (Source: CDC).
These gaps, these avoidable differences, are the impact of health disparities. And they cost lives, time, trust, and dollars.
The Business Case: Why Health & Wellness Brands Should Care
Yes, this is a human rights issue. But it’s also a strategic one.
The U.S. Census projects that people of color will be the majority by 2050 (Source: KFF). That means your future consumer base will be made up predominantly of health disparity populations – communities currently facing systemic obstacles to care.
For brands in the health and wellness space, from insurers and fitness apps to telehealth startups and supplement companies, addressing disparities is about future-proofing. It’s about making sure your services are usable, your language is relatable, and your brand is trustworthy.
Inclusive care is efficient care.
And when care is culturally competent, logistically streamlined, and emotionally safe, engagement skyrockets. People stick with their treatment plans. They book that appointment. They take that fitness class. They buy into your brand because it sees them.
In our most recent White paper, the third trend discussed is Health Equity and inclusive care taking center stage. Here’s an excerpt highlighting the importance of this trend:
Root Causes: It’s Not Just About Insurance
Health disparities don’t begin in the exam room. They stem from complex interactions between social factors, environmental conditions, and the determinants of health: income, housing, education, discrimination, and more.
The health sciences community now recognizes that equity through health education and community engagement are just as vital as treatment protocols. Programs focused on physical activity, nutritional access, and maternal health, especially when delivered in culturally aligned ways, are more likely to close gaps than policy alone. Social structures uplifting community health are more effective than simple treatments, as they tackle the problem at its root.
What does this mean for marketers and strategists?
It means we need to look upstream. We can’t just promote products, we must promote supportive environments. We need to support innovative collaborations between public health organizations, community advocates, and private entities to create true change.
To learn more about why insurance is not the end-all, be-all of access, check our our blog post “The Access Myth: Why having insurance doesn’t ensure access to healthcare“.
What’s Being Done: Initiatives Driving Equity
The good news? Progress is happening …to a certain extent.
At the federal level, the National Institutes of Health has funded certain disparities research activities through programs like the Centers of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities. These centers support innovative projects designed to tackle minority health conditions like cancer, chronic kidney disease, and cardiovascular illness (Source: NIH).
The NIH also supports the coordination of minority health through cooperative agreements with universities, tribal organizations, and medical institutions to build disparities research capacity and drive advances to health disparity knowledge (Source: NIH).
At the community level, health systems and nonprofits are increasingly focused on level interventions – meeting people where they are. This includes partnerships with barbershops, churches, salons, and neighborhood recreation centers – hubs for health disparities that hold cultural capital and trust.
What Brands Can Do: Actionable Paths Forward
This isn’t a time for passive support.
It’s time for intentional, measurable action. If you’re a health and wellness brand looking to meet this moment, here are five ways to start:
1. Speak to the Whole Consumer
Your content should reflect the wide array of identities and experiences that make up today’s health consumer. Translate more than just your copy – translate your values. Consider cultural norms, community pain points, and linguistic nuance in your storytelling.
2. Build With, Not For
Community engagement isn’t just focus groups. Partner with organizations already embedded in health disparity communities. Co-create programs. Compensate their time. Listen, and implement what they tell you to.
3. Make Care Easier, Not Just Cheaper
Yes, cost is a barrier – but so is time, tech literacy, transportation, and childcare. Can your product reduce the time investment? Can you integrate with community-based clinics or offer digital tools that simplify the journey?
4. Train Your Team
Ensure your staff – from creative to operations – understands the factors of health disparities and the importance of culturally competent outreach. Partner with health equity educators or bring in speakers from disparities research activities.
5. Support the Pipeline
Diversify the health professions. Sponsor scholarships. Fund innovative approaches to workforce development. Support training programs that prepare qualified health professionals from health disparity populations.
Looking Ahead: Equity Isn’t a Trend – It’s the Future
Inclusion isn’t a campaign, it’s a commitment. And for brands in the health and wellness space, it’s a competitive edge.
We’re in an era where health determinants are no longer invisible. Consumers are smarter, savvier, and more skeptical. They want to know your values. They want to see themselves in your services. And they want to feel better, not just physically, but socially and emotionally, too.
As we push for the elimination of health disparities, health and wellness brands have a role to play that goes far beyond the transaction. You’re shaping culture. You’re influencing habits. And you’re either upholding systems or helping to transform them.
Let’s choose transformation.
Ready to lead in equity-focused health and wellness marketing? We can help. Let’s build something that changes lives – and business outcomes.
