Advancing equity in pain care through education, strategic partnerships, and advocacy

This article highlights three key pathways to advancing equitable pain care: education, strategic partnerships, and advocacy. Education remains foundational, emphasizing both provider training in cultural competency and bidirectional patient education to improve pain management outcomes. Strategic partnerships between the private sector, academia, and the community are needed to advance pain care and research in an increasingly challenging sociopolitical climate. Moreover, community-based participatory research (CBPR) and patient advisory boards ensure that research remains patient-centered and impactful. Finally, advocacy is crucial in mitigating legislative and policy shifts that threaten equitable pain care. While institutional constraints may limit public advocacy efforts, individual researchers and clinicians can engage policymakers, promote equitable funding structures, and advocate for high-quality pain care. By integrating action research principles with community-driven solutions, the pain research community can move beyond identifying disparities to actively implementing strategies that improve outcomes for marginalized populations, ensuring that pain care remains inclusive, responsive, and effective amidst ongoing challenges.