Seeing chronic inequities: A health communication call to action

Seeing Chronic Inequities – A Health Communication Call to Action Communication is central to perceptions of and meanings given to health and wellbeing, delivery of health care and health promotion (Kreps & Bonaguro, 2009). It is also key to how individuals and communities experience and enact agency, personhood, legitimacy, culture, and, importantly, access to care. When these are hindered, the result can be inequitable access, cultural bias and racism in service provision within “mainstream” health systems, as research in health communication, Indigenous, and migrant studies has shown (e.g., Dutta, 2008; Hatala et al., 2015; Len-Ríos, 2009). Indeed, health systems infused with an ideology of individual responsibility marginalise alternative worldviews and contribute to chronic health inequities because these systems can neglect the cultural dimensions of wellbeing, service provision and health messaging (Ganesh & McAllum, 2010). The COVID-19 pandemic has brought us to a critical crossroad: Unprecedented pressure on healthcare systems globally continues to lay bare pre-existing but underacknowledged fractures in healthcare policy, provision and end-user experience. Now more than ever, there is an increased need for accessible, culture-centred and culturally responsive practices (e.g., Oetzel et al. 2020; Ramsden, 2002; Zarcadoolas et al., 2006). Yet, the pandemic also offers a unique opportunity to rethink conceptualisations and practices related to health (Simpson et al., 2020): We urge scholars in digital, health, Indigenous, intercultural, interpersonal, organizational, and political fields of communication to continue to probe, question, critique, rethink and redesign health care practices and systems. The articles in this special issue explore inequities, stigma, and culturally (un)safe health care both before (Nykänen; Price & Hill; Robb) and during the pandemic (Jayan & Dutta; Nguyen et al.). In the articles’ respective examination of health-related messages, discourses, narratives and worldviews, two main themes are evident: (a) stigma-based marginalisation and (b) cultural safety, care and community.