Shonaquip Social Enterprise (ShonaquipSE) was honoured to welcome members of the Institute of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health Systems Research at Hannover Medical School (MHH), Germany, for a South African-German knowledge exchange centred on diversity, equity and inclusion in healthcare.
The visit created an opportunity to share experiences from very different healthcare contexts while exploring a question that reaches far beyond national borders: How can healthcare systems move beyond traditional charity models and create structures that enable genuine inclusion, participation and equitable access?
As an organisation working to challenge traditional approaches to disability and inclusion, ShonaquipSE was pleased to contribute its South African perspective to this conversation.
A conversation about changing the narrative
The exchange was intentionally small and conversational, providing space to discuss the realities behind inclusive healthcare, the importance of lived experience, and the need to shift perceptions of disability away from charity and towards participation, rights and opportunity.
During their visit, the team had the opportunity to meet ShonaquipSE Founder and Managing Director, Shona McDonald, and to learn more about ShonaquipSE’s approach to inclusive healthcare and social impact. And, of course, no visit to ShonaquipSE would be complete without meeting Oggie, our therapy dog, who added his own particular contribution to the day’s welcome.
For Tracy Elliot, Inclusion Specialist at ShonaquipSE, these personal exchanges are an important part of building understanding across contexts: “These in-person exchanges remind us that inclusive healthcare is a shared global challenge and that we have much to learn from one another.”
For ShonaquipSE, being selected to participate in this exchange was an honour and an opportunity to share South African experience within a broader international conversation about inclusion in healthcare.
Understanding the HUMAN-LS research programme
The visit also provided an opportunity to learn more about the wider research being undertaken by the Hannover Medical School team through HUMAN-LS Health Equality, Migration and Diversity: Data Driven Assessment of Disparities, Digitization and Diversity in Prevention, Medical Care and Nursing Care in Lower Saxony.
HUMAN-LS is a major research programme running from October 2025 to September 2030. It is a joint project involving Hannover Medical School and Leibniz University Hannover, bringing together researchers from health economics, health systems research, psychiatry, information systems, insurance management and related fields. The work is conducted within the Center for Health Economics Research Hannover (CHERH).
The project examines how factors including migration, age, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic circumstances can influence people’s access to and use of healthcare. Its overarching aim is to identify disparities and gaps in care and to develop evidence-based approaches that can contribute to more equitable healthcare.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as an organisational question
Within HUMAN-LS, one strand of work looks specifically at Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) within healthcare organisations. This perspective asks how diversity, equity and inclusion can become embedded within hospitals and care organisations as an ongoing organisational and leadership responsibility, rather than being treated as a standalone initiative.
The work considers questions around organisational culture, governance and workforce development, alongside the experiences of patients and healthcare professionals. The wider ambition is to translate research and international learning into practical recommendations that can support more sustainable and inclusive structures within healthcare.
The project combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. Researchers are working with a range of health and social data sources, including health insurance data and large population datasets, alongside surveys, interviews and other forms of stakeholder engagement. The MHH project description also highlights the use of AI-supported analysis and a participatory approach involving people affected by the issues being studied.
This combination of data-driven research and participation reflects an important principle, which is understanding health inequalities requires looking not only at individual health needs, but also at the systems, structures and circumstances that shape people’s ability to access appropriate care.
Why international exchange matters
Although the healthcare systems of South Africa and Germany operate in very different social, economic, and institutional contexts, the exchange highlighted a common challenge: access to healthcare is about more than having services available.
It is also about whether people can reach those services, understand them, participate in decisions about their care, and experience healthcare environments in which their identities, circumstances and needs are recognised.
For ShonaquipSE, this is closely connected to the work of challenging charity-based perceptions of disability and promoting approaches centred on agency, participation and inclusion.
For the HUMAN-LS research team, the focus is on generating evidence about disparities and identifying strategies that can contribute to greater equity within healthcare. Bringing different experiences into conversation can create valuable opportunities for learning.
Continuing the conversation
ShonaquipSE is deeply honoured to have been selected to take part in this international exchange and to have had the opportunity to share our experience with colleagues from Hannover Medical School.
The visit was a reminder that inclusive healthcare is not a challenge belonging to one country, profession, or community. It is a shared global conversation, one that benefits from listening across borders, learning from lived experience and questioning systems that unintentionally leave people behind.
We look forward to continuing South African-German dialogue, collaboration, and shared learning in support of healthcare systems where inclusion is not an afterthought, but an essential part of how care is designed and delivered.
Source:
https://www.mhh.de/institut-fuer-epidemiologie/human-ls
Contact: info@ShonaquipSE.org.za