Insights Into Global Pediatric Health Equity Research and Health Care Delivery

As the Senior Vice President for Pediatric Health Equity Strategies at Boston Children's Hospital and the Chief Executive Officer at Boston Children's Hospital, we are honored to write this preface. This Pediatrics supplement, titled "Insights into Global Pediatric Health Equity Research and Health Care Delivery," is a compilation of rigorous scientific pediatric health equity and health services research articles and scholarship written by a group of global experts with senior contributing authors from 8 countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Tanzania, United Kingdom, and United States) representing a wide range of pediatric patient populations, health services delivery models, care delivery teams, data analytic teams, lived experiences, and health care leadership models.The supplement provides insights and perspectives in the following areas: Pediatric health care access, health care delivery, and health outcomes;Data and/or technology used in pediatric health care delivery and the potential for differential impacts on medically underserved, underresourced, and underrepresented pediatric populations; andInnovative health care delivery leadership models and strategies to address health-related social needs and to make health outcomes more equitable for all children at the health system level.Brief summaries of this supplement's article topics are elucidated in the introduction that follows this preface.This Pediatrics supplement with contributing global authors reflects Boston Children's commitment to increasing global awareness of pediatric health care access and delivery inequities. For more than 150 years, Boston Children's Hospital has been strengthening and expanding its commitment to pediatric health equity and improving health outcomes for all children. Boston Children's is one of the first academic medical centers to add community health to its mission, expanding beyond the traditional 3-part mission of care, research, and education. Over the years, our hospital has created a series of intentional initiatives aimed at reducing pediatric health inequities: In 1968, we created one of the first community health centers in Boston.In 2006, we established our inaugural Diversity and Cultural Competency Council.In 2017, we created our Office of Health Equity and Inclusion.In 2020, we created a Declaration around our health equity work, which we embedded into our medical center's overall enterprise goals and objectives.In 2021, we created the Sandra L. Fenwick Institute, a major initiative to improve health outcomes for all children by (1) performing, collaborating, and supporting pioneering, actionable research that catalyzes innovations in pediatric clinical care; (2) providing leadership development for current and future health care and research leaders; and (3) setting the standards of practice to improve health care for all children locally, nationally, and globally.The Fenwick Institute is named in honor of Sandra L. Fenwick, CEO Emerita of Boston Children's Hospital, where she served as CEO and in other leadership roles for more than 2 decades. The Boston Children's Board of Trustees and senior leadership honored Ms. Fenwick's strong commitment to improving the health of all children with the creation of this eponymous Institute. Of special note, Ms Fenwick played a critical role in identifying several of the contributing global authors of the articles in this Pediatrics supplement.In summary, the work of the Fenwick Institute includes global outreach, yet we recognize that we still have farther to go before we achieve our goal of ensuring equitable health care access and delivery for all children. This Pediatrics supplement represents a significant step forward toward achieving that collective goal, and the articles are written by global experts who share our commitment to advancing pediatric health equity research and health care delivery.The supplement editors are Valerie L. Ward, MD, MPH; Jay G. Berry, MD, MPH; and Ravi R. Thiagarajan, MBBS, MPH. They are all from Boston Children's Hospital. The supplement cost is being sponsored by Boston Children's Sandra L. Fenwick Institute.The views expressed in this publication are solely the opinions of the contributing authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Boston Children's Hospital Sandra L. Fenwick Institute.Senior Vice President, Pediatric Health Equity StrategiesBoston Children's HospitalBoston, MA, USAChief Executive OfficerBoston Children's HospitalBoston, MA, USA