At the heart of health equity in the U.S.

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‘Hear Your Heart’ is one of our numerous programs that aims to improve health equity: Despite progress over the past decades, a significant portion of the global population still struggles to receive a high level of healthcare services. Certain communities are especially underserved. But who are they? And what is meant by ‘underserved’? A new, company-wide definition helps to better identify and determine groups that lack equal access to healthcare – like Black and Latina women with heart failure in the United States.

Health disparities and inequities can affect so many in different ways. Heart failure is a chronic condition which impacts more than six million people in the United States – approximately half of whom are women. Despite a similar prevalence of the chronic condition, women diagnosed with heart failure most often have a worse outcome when compared with men. A closer look reveals that especially among Black and Latina women with heart failure, negative health outcomes are further magnified due to significant health disparities and inequities that exist in the management of the condition:

Heart disease, which includes heart failure, is the second leading cause of death for Latinas.
Black women with heart failure have a higher mortality rate than white women.
Black and Latina women living with heart failure are less likely to be admitted to specialized cardiology units.
Healthcare professionals can be less likely to adhere to guidelines when treating women compared to men, leading to potential undertreatment.
A variety of social determinants of health, including health literacy, socioeconomics, and environmental influences, can contribute to poor health outcomes like higher rates of diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure.

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people in the U.S. are affected by heart failure – approx. half of whom are women

On top of these specific health disparities and inequities, women who also take care of their loved ones frequently deprioritize their own health: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two out of every three care partners in the U.S. are women, and women who are care partners have a greater risk for poor physical and mental health.

Promoting health equity for underserved communities

The gap in healthcare is clear: Black and Latina women with heart failure are not getting the best care, despite living in a country with an overall high health standard. Together with the Lilly Alliance, the U.S. Communications team created a program to tackle health disparities and inequities specifically for women living with heart failure, especially Black and Latina women, called Hear Your Heart. “Black and Latina women face many unique challenges and barriers that prevent optimal care,” says Jennifer Forsyth, Director, Human Pharma Communications USA. “Education and access to the right resources can help close these gaps in care.”

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people in underserved communities is who we aim to reach by 2030

By targeting Black and Latina women living with heart failure, Hear Your Heart relates to a key objective of Boehringer Ingelheim: contribute towards eliminating health disparities around the globe. Through our Sustainable Development – For Generations framework, we are committed to reaching 100 million people in underserved communities by 2030. Thus, a company-wide definition of underserved communities provides a credible and consistent approach to identify affected populations and to improve health equity for these groups.

Following the new definition in place, Hear Your Heart primarily addresses barriers identified in social inequalities, such as gender and ethnicity. The program has also identified pockets of vulnerabilities existing amongst Black and Latina women with heart failure, including their health status (living with a higher risk of noncommunicable diseases and multi-morbidity), healthcare (low access to evidence-based care) and health literacy.

Defining underserved communities (PDF)

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Educating women to increase access to healthcare

Hear Your Heart was launched in April 2022, timed to coincide with National Minority Health Month, and followed by the Spanish language extension Cuide Su Corazón. As an educational initiative, Hear Your Heart aims to empower Black and Latina women to prioritize their care, feel more confident asking for the support they need to manage their condition – and thus be able to expect more from their care.

With these goals in mind, Hear Your Heart offers English and Spanish content hubs with educational information on health disparities and inequities in heart failure care. They include downloadable action plans for Black and Latina women, their care partners, and healthcare professionals. Additionally, patient and expert stories are successfully shared in national and local health and wellness outlets reaching Black and Latina women.

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social impressions

In less than two years, the Hear Your Heart program reached 27.4M+ social impressions, 3.7M+ video views, and generated 20 original articles from earned outreach. By providing online educational resources and tools, it also motivated women with heart failure and healthcare professionals to act, with 3.7K+ resource downloads, 177.8K+ clicks from social ads and 166K+ qualified clicks to our English and Spanish content hubs.

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resource downloads

In 2023, the Hear Your Heart program went out on the road into local communities through a variety of innovative, in-person grassroots events. Two panel events for healthcare providers in Southern California were held, and we sponsored a Hear Your Heart panel discussion at a cardiology conference in California. We also hosted an educational consumer event in Houston, Texas, for a group of women to learn more about managing heart failure care from local heart health experts.

With all the work accomplished thus far and still to come, Hear Your Heart and the Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly Alliance remain dedicated to helping Black and Latina women better understand their heart health, determine how they can take a more proactive role in their care – and become their own heart success advocate.

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Better access to healthcare for Indigenous Peoples in Canada

Indigenous-led, our PATHWAYS program aims to bridge the health gap in Indigenous communities. It has already impacted 50,000+ people in 30 communities in Canada, addressing diabetes and COPD.

Coaching patients in Mexico to improve health

Medicoach, a mobile app developed by us, educates patients in Mexico and Central America about diabetes, COPD, asthma, and hypertension, aiming to promote awareness of healthier living.