For a child growing up in Boston, two miles can mean the difference of 23 years in life expectancy. Social factors such as racism, poverty, and lack of education or resources, have led to this inequality–and it’s unacceptable.
Give Every Child a Healthy Future
In every corner of Boston Children’s, we’re working with caregivers, researchers, our patients and communities to change this reality. In 2021, we opened the Sandra Fenwick Institute for Pediatric Health Equity and Inclusion to study and discover new ways to improve health care access and train the next generation of health care leaders.
With your help, we can give every child–no matter their background or where they live–a healthier life. Together, we’ll tackle the roots of health inequity with programs across the hospital:
- Nurture our communities. Address poverty and homelessness, strengthen local programs and reduce food insecurity.
- Expand clinical trials to include participants from all backgrounds. Research studies don’t always include families from diverse backgrounds, which skews the results and perpetuates unequal treatment in health care. We can and must do better.
- Help families overcome barriers to better care. A mom who can’t afford a day off from work to bring her toddler to a doctor, a father who must take three buses to bring his daughter to an MRI, a grandparent who can’t understand the advice a nurse gives them. Our programs are finding answers to help families.
- Train tomorrow’s leaders. We’re developing the next generation of leaders in health equity. Through seminars, workshops and mentorship, our institute’s fellows learn how health equity affects every part of pediatric medicine. Then they conduct hands-on research to put those ideas into practice.
- Share what works. Our experts share what they learn by visiting health care institutions in the United States and abroad, and by convening health care professionals and thought leaders at events in Boston.
