Women’s Health Week series: Eli Lilly and Pink Hope leaders address the disparities in quality of cancer care impacting women

In celebrating Women’s Health Week (5 – 11 September), this interview in a series called Women, Equity and Health focusses on women and cancer care equity.

Sarah Powell, CEO, Pink Hope and Meghann Nikola, Associate Director of Marketing in Oncology at Eli Lilly joined Health Industry Hub to discuss the key gaps in care experienced by Australian women with breast cancer and the opportunities to enhance healthcare delivery.

Racial and ethnic diversity among clinical trial participants is key to understanding intrinsic and extrinsic factors that impact patient response to cancer treatments and promote health equity. It is also a critical scientific and ethical imperative for the cancer community. Meghann and Sarah shared their views on the current challenges and how they are partnering with stakeholders to develop sustainable solutions for increasing diversity and inclusion in oncology clinical trials to better represent the community we live in.

Meghann and Sarah explored the actions their respective organisations are taking to reduce the inequities in cancer care delivery for culturally and linguistically diverse communities, First Nations women and women who live in rural and remote areas. According to a recent publication, despite being a multilingual and multiethnic society, Australian health institutions have yet to take the necessary steps to move beyond the culturally dominant models of care delivery which is causing health inequities across the cancer care continuum.

They also reflected on the recent growth of new healthcare technologies and how to best leverage these advancements to make quality cancer care more equitable and bridge the gaps in healthcare delivery.