Let us touch the dying, the poor, the lonely, and the unwanted according to the graces we have received and let us not be ashamed or slow to do the humble work.

Mother Teresa

When the concept of humanitarian work arises, I often reflect on this quote because, at its core, acts of humanitarianism are performing “the humble work.” In fact, the very definition of humanitarianism is the belief in human welfare and reducing suffering. When we consider acts of humanitarian work, we often think about trips to other countries to provide aid and services to reduce suffering. These efforts are essential to helping many people across the globe, as countless people are suffering worldwide. However, when we discuss humanitarianism, we rarely include addressing health care disparities within our own country’s borders. These disparities in health care usually burden the citizens of the most resource-deprived communities, which we know are all too often Black, Indigenous, or specific populations of Latinx people. However, addressing these disparities is a means to promote human welfare and reduce suffering.

When addressing these disparities to reduce suffering, there has been little movement in eliminating these gaps in outcomes over the years. It has been widely published that societal factors can influence an individual’s health, referred to as social determinants of health; many of these factors that negatively impact one’s health are still present. In addition to these day-to-day factors that influence health, we know that access to quality health care is lacking for many people from underserved communities. With these persistent differences in outcomes, it begs the question: are the solutions that complex?

As the recent recipient of the inaugural Health Equity Fellowship from the Urology Care Foundation^TM, eliminating disparities is one of my life’s passions. That said, in my opinion, the complexity we attempt to place on interventions to address disparities is the enemy of progress. As a urologic oncologist, I often think about the disparities in prostate cancer, which provides a perfect reference for my previous comment. Over time, the desire to find a complex genetic explanation for differences in prostate cancer incidence and outcomes for Black men has consumed the minds of researchers while often forgetting to evaluate the social issues that influence health outcomes.

As a Black man with an advanced degree in Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, I appreciate the value of precision medicine. But despite the attractiveness of precision medicine and the use of genomics, we should remember the importance of doing the humble work. One such way of addressing health disparities that has been proposed here amongst our team has been to commence with a 3-pronged approach to closing the gaps. This approach consists of:

1. Increasing health literacy—this concept has been widely studied, and the Institute of Medicine recommended this approach to address disparities in the book “Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion.”
2. Patient navigation services—while this approach has gained traction in various health care systems, the need to take these services directly to patients remains. While we’re still collecting data to determine the impact of this resource, many patients openly express their content having assistance with obtaining appointments and scheduling exams, lab tests, imaging, etc.
3. Social worker services—patients are often uninformed about their insurance benefits and services available to help with factors that are termed social determinants of health. Resources available for transportation or food insecurity are often underutilized because patients are unaware that they exist. Assisting patients to understand the benefits and resources available can help promote utilization.

While we are currently collecting data to measure the long-term impact of this strategy, the reception from the community at large has been robust. Part of this response is undoubtedly from an improved presence. But I also reflect on the words of one of my mentors, Dr Peter Pronovost, when discussing the presence of love in our actions. He stated, “Love is an energy that uplifts and connects us all. Love is a force innately in each of us that means we matter, we are born worthy of respect, of having agency, of having our voices heard. Love sees the wisdom and beauty in every person and invites their ideas to the table, regardless of their pedigree. Love is the absence of separation.” While the origins of these disparities are complex, they originate from an absence of love. So, the interventions we put forth must come from a place of love, a place of seeing everyone’s humanity and reassuring them that regardless of their skin color, gender, class, etc, that they matter. There’s no way, in my opinion, to eliminate these disparities without the presence of love guiding us as we do the humble work.