As preventive health technologies gain traction, there is a growing imperative to ensure they are accessible to everyone, not just those with the latest devices, higher incomes or advanced digital skills. Equity in design should not be treated as a secondary concern; it must be a fundamental aspect of developing tools aimed at preventing illness and promoting population health. Joe Kiani, founder of Masimo and Willow Laboratories, recognizes that the success of any health innovation is determined by its reach and inclusivity. Preventive tools that neglect vulnerable populations are not merely incomplete; they risk exacerbating the very disparities they seek to mitigate.
Addressing this challenge requires deliberate efforts to promote accessibility, including inclusive user testing, intentional outreach and infrastructure designed to bridge socioeconomic gaps. Whether it involves optimizing applications for lower-end devices or offering multilingual support, developers must account for the diverse real-world contexts in which individuals live and access healthcare. Only by prioritizing inclusivity can preventive technologies truly advance health equity, benefiting all rather than just the privileged few.
What Equity Means in Preventive Design
Designing for equity means creating technologies that are usable, useful and accessible to people across a wide spectrum of backgrounds. It considers:
- Socioeconomic status
- Language and literacy levels
- Physical and cognitive abilities
- Race, gender and geographic diversity
Equity isn’t about creating separate tools for different groups. It’s about building inclusive systems that adapt to real-world variation so that more people can benefit from the same innovations. By prioritizing inclusivity from the outset, developers can embed fairness into the DNA of their products.
Start With Inclusive Research and Data
If the data used to design and train a preventive health tool comes from a narrow slice of the population, the tool’s recommendations won’t work for everyone. Equity starts upstream:
- Include diverse demographics in clinical research
- Source behavioral and environmental data across urban and rural settings
- Monitor for gaps in the datasets that power predictive algorithms
Inclusion in data collection also means ensuring that smaller, underserved groups are not lumped into broad categories. Overgeneralization can erase important differences, further disadvantaging those already underserved.
Address the Digital Divide
Many preventive health tools rely on smartphones, wearables and internet access, but digital access is not universal. Responsible design includes:
- Building offline functionality where feasible
- Offering support through SMS or community health workers
- Ensuring apps are optimized for lower-cost devices and limited bandwidth
Solutions must be realistic about infrastructure and affordability. The goal is to create tools that meet users where they are, not where developers assume they’ll be.
Design With Humility, Not Assumptions
Equity requires listening to the communities being served. That means:
- Holding co-design sessions with users from underrepresented groups
- Testing interfaces with individuals who speak different languages or have different levels of health literacy
- Accepting that lived experience often reveals blind spots in design
User feedback isn’t just a validation step; it’s a learning opportunity. Integrating diverse perspectives early and often results in stronger, more inclusive tools. Feedback mechanisms should remain in place post-launch to ensure continual adaptation to community needs.
Adapt Content for Cultural Relevance
Prevention is personal. People’s beliefs about health, risk and responsibility vary across cultures and messaging that motivates one community may fall flat or even offend another. Equity-minded design ensures:
- Language is not just translated but localized
- Visuals reflect cultural norms and identities
- Recommendations align with available resources and daily realities
Developers should work with cultural competency advisors and conduct testing across regional groups to fine-tune messaging.
Simplify Without Oversimplifying
Overly technical tools create barriers, but oversimplified solutions risk missing nuance. Equity in design means balancing ease of use and contextual depth. That might include:
- Layered information structures that offer both summaries and details
- Optional guidance in multiple formats (text, audio, visual)
- Customizable interfaces based on user preferences
Simplicity should support, not suppress, user agency and understanding. Users must be able to interact with content in the way that best suits them.
Measure Outcomes by Inclusion
Many developers gauge their growth by tracking downloads or user numbers. While these metrics can indicate popularity, they do not necessarily reflect the true impact of a tool, especially when considering equity. To genuinely assess whether a digital health solution is making a difference, it is essential to dig deeper and measure not just usage but meaningful outcomes.
Equity-focused evaluation requires asking critical questions: Who is using the tool? Who continues to use it over time? Most importantly, who is experiencing improvements, and who isn’t? By disaggregating data by race, income, geography and ability, developers can uncover gaps that may otherwise go unnoticed. This deeper analysis not only helps identify disparities but also guides teams in refining their tools with inclusivity in mind. Without such targeted measurement, it is impossible to know whether a tool is genuinely driving positive change or merely perpetuating existing inequalities.
Joe Kiani Masimo founder explains, “It’s not just about collecting data. It’s about delivering insights that empower people to make better decisions about their health.” In the context of health equity, that means ensuring the insights delivered are understandable, culturally relevant and accessible across varied socioeconomic and linguistic backgrounds. When digital health tools translate data into practical support for real-world choices, they become more than just platforms; they become partners in prevention.
To build health technology that truly serves everyone, it is crucial to go beyond surface metrics and actively seek insights from different user groups. By embedding equity into the core of data analysis and product design, brands can ensure that their innovations make a tangible difference for all users, not just a select few.
Build Partnerships that Expand Reach
Technology alone won’t close equity gaps. Collaborating with public health agencies, local clinics, schools and advocacy organizations helps preventive tools reach those who need them most. These partnerships can:
- Facilitate trust through community champions
- Provide training and support to nontraditional users
- Extend technology’s benefits beyond the app and into the community
Developers must invest in community outreach and relationship building. Trust and uptake improve when people see familiar organizations endorsing new tools.
Design for Long-Term Engagement
Preventive care isn’t a one-time event. It requires sustained action. Tools that assume constant motivation or perfect conditions are likely to fail the most marginalized users. Equity-oriented tools:
- Send empathetic reminders
- Allow for missed days without penalty
- Reinforce value without judgment
Supporting real-life behavior change means designing for fluctuation and flexibility. Equity is about accommodating life’s messiness, not ignoring it.
Embed Equity in Your Mission, Not Just Your Product
Equity in health tech should not stop at the product level. Organizations should also reflect their mission in their hiring, partnerships and business models. That might mean:
- Recruiting diverse teams across all roles
- Funding research in underserved regions
- Offering freemium or subsidized pricing models
A brand committed to equity shows it everywhere, from internal culture to external impact. Equity is not a feature. It is standard. Innovation must be judged not only by what it promises but by who it includes.
The future of preventive health depends on technologies that reach further, listen better and adapt more thoughtfully. By embedding equity at every stage of design, we can ensure that progress in health is shared progress and that no one is left behind.
True health innovation doesn’t just improve outcomes. It expands access, builds trust and restores dignity to those often overlooked. Equity is not just the right thing; it’s the smart thing. And in preventive health, it is the only way forward.
