Antidiscrimination & health equity:
the importance of equality data

Although racism and discrimination are fundamental determinants of health, and the evidence for their impact on both physical and mental health across all life stages is becoming more overwhelming by the day, the issue remains largely unrecognised and unconsidered in the public health domain. This is the driving force behind the Thematic Network DisQo, bringing together now more than 40 organisations, people, with the shared ambition to address institutional and structural racism and discrimination for health equity.

In a series of three webinars, we discussed and delved deeper into key topics that were identified by network members during DisQo’s kick-off meeting on 3 November 2022, which include for example the importance of a clear language and definitions, the evidence base and good quality equality data, the sharing of best practices at different government levels, and the need to break down silos between sectors.

This second webinar addressed the importance of equality data. The lack of comprehensive systems or a coordinated approach to collecting and using equality data, disaggregated by race and ethnic origin and other grounds of discrimination, represents a barrier to evaluating the impact of measures addressing racism and discrimination. Although there are some legal considerations, most notably the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and national data protection rules to protect citizens from any potential risks of misuse or abuse, the collection and processing of special categories of personal data is possible under certain conditions, including for statistical or research purposes, so can be read in the Guidance note on the collection and use of equality data based on racial or ethnic origin.