The health, economic, and social justice crises of 2020 are reshaping the future of both community and social services. The coronavirus pandemic has touched every corner of the world. For the global health community, it has redefined how care is delivered to high-risk communities, how we define risk, and how we address the power structures and root causes that create risk, vulnerability, and inequity.

Since the pandemic reached the United States, people of color have experienced disproportionately higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths. According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black Americans have a 2.6 times higher rate of cases, 4.7 times higher rate of hospitalization, and 2.1 times higher rate of deaths from COVID-19 than white Americans. Hispanic Americans have a 2.8 times greater rate of infections, 4.6 times greater rate of hospitalizations, and 1.1 times greater rate of deaths than white Americans.

The Medtronic Foundation aims to improve the health of underserved populations. But real change happens not because of funders. Real, sustained change is the result of the nonprofit organizations that transform financing to bridge communities and clinical care delivery in ways that address patients as people.

To take advantage of that collective knowledge and deep expertise, the Medtronic Foundation joined with its partners who are addressing health disparities from around the world to create a Learning Community, in which members share insights and best practices, exchange resources, and discuss lessons learned. Collective learning happens through regular insights from those on the ground and by actively working to break down the funder-recipient paradigm, putting a premium on partnerships.

In conversation with members of our Learning Community, here is a glimpse at what the Medtronic Foundation discovered about how nonprofits are adjusting to the crises of 2020, through the lens of health equity:

Read the full article about health equity during the crisis by Jessica Daly & The Medtronic Foundation Learning Community at Stanford Social Innovation Review.