Advancing health equity through medical imagery: Illustrate Change

Less than 5% of medical images depicted dark skin, and only 8% of medical illustrators identified as racially and ethnically diverse people. The underrepresentation of diverse skin tones in medical images is a significant issue that has the potential to negatively impact the quality of healthcare for racially and ethnically diverse communities.

The Deloitte Health Equity Institute (DHEI) was established in 2021 to help address health inequities and differences in health that are avoidable, systematic, measurable, and unjust. The DHEI aims to be a catalyst for bold action and positive change by advancing health equity through community investments, research, and collaborations with leaders across public, private, and social sectors.

Our organization’s experience and relationships in driving health equity through DHEI, our design capabilities through Deloitte Digital, allowed us to engage in collective action to develop and launch “Illustrate Change” alongside J&J and the Association of Medical Illustrators. This project aims to build the largest diverse medical imagery library to help increase representation in healthcare and ultimately reduce potential biases in our health system and promote more equitable health outcomes.

At the launch of “Illustrate Change” in June 2023, the project immediately made available 25 diverse medical illustrations, and there are ongoing plans to involve 10 more diverse artists to help release 100 more images in 2024.