Equity Charter

The Equity Charter was founded by Ayesha Rahim, Victoria Betton & Hassan Chaudhury. As people working in the digital health sector, we were appalled by the racist and misogynistic comments reported in The Guardian, by the owner of TPP, a large digital health company. We launched our open letter at the Rewired Digital Health conference on 13 March 2024 and called for individuals and organisations to become signatories. With over 1000 individual and over 60 organisational signatures, we organised a summit on 23 July where 30 EDI & digital health experts came together to develop the charter. OUR PURPOSE Our purpose is to advocate for equity in digital health. Our primary focus is on standing up to racism. We recognise that we live intersectional, complex lives and we hope that by taking a stand against racism, we can have a positive impact on reducing inequity more broadly. We hope to build alliances and coalition with other individuals and groups advocating for equity. VISION Our vision is for an equitable digital health sector, where we stand up to racism and other forms of discrimination. IMPACT OF INEQUITY The impacts of systemic racism and inequity are far reaching and we summarise some of the impacts for the digital health sector: Workplace - racism and other forms of inequity create hostile work environments, hinder career progression, and perpetuate systemic inequalities. Innovation - non-diverse teams limit innovation, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities, leading to reduced business performance & financial returns. Digital products and services - digital health products and services fail to meet the needs of underserved communities, resulting in missed market opportunities and potential reputational damage. Healthcare - ultimately, inequity leads to disparities in access, quality of care, and health outcomes for underserved communities, exacerbating existing health inequalities & reducing overall population health.