BET and HealthiNation Partner on New Digital Content Initiative to Help Achieve African American Healthcare Equity

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BET, (a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc., NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC) and HealthiNation, an award-winning producer and publisher of health videos, today announced the launch of a digital content initiative to provide informative, culturally relevant health and medical information to help address healthcare disparities among African Americans.

While health inequities have been prevalent for generations, the COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated the significant health and wellness disparities for people of color, among Black American patients and even healthcare professionals.

• Black Americans are three times more likely to contract COVID-19 and twice as likely to die from the virus.
• The current COVID-19 vaccination rate is much lower among Black Americans than their white peers.
• Only 5 percent of physicians are identified as Black or African American.
• African Americans are more likely to have diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions than non-Hispanic whites.

This long-term initiative between BET and HealthiNation will address these disparities through an ongoing series of videos that feature healthcare providers of color addressing topics including diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, mental health, and preventative care. It will also include educational resources to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and separate vaccination facts versus fiction. New content will appear on BET.com/health every Wednesday.

“HealthiNation is a perfect partner for BET as we strive to mitigate the factors that stand in the way of equitable health outcomes for African Americans,” said Jeanine Liburd, Chief Social Impact & Communications Officer.

"We're delighted to partner with BET to provide our medically reviewed, culturally relevant original healthcare content to its audience," said Michael O'Donnell, CEO, HealthiNation. “The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on the healthcare inequities that are still prevalent in communities of color, and we are inspired to do our part to help drive better health outcomes for African Americans."

BET.com/health will connect Black patients with Black doctors, while serving as an informative resource for experts and strategic partners to connect with audiences that prioritize their health. This digital content initiative will bring important content to BET’s audience and facilitate new partnerships with industry-leading healthcare professionals and organizations.

“We are excited to partner with HealthiNation’s executive team, production team and roster of Black doctors, specialists and leading experts. This partnership will enable us to bring important content to BET’s audience across our digital platforms,” said P. Sean Gupta, BET’s SVP of Strategy and Business Operations.

"This partnership pairs BET's trusted relationship with the Black community with HealthiNation's medically reviewed original health content," said Dr. Preeti Parikh, Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital and Chief Medical Officer, HealthiNation. "The combination will bring the most trusted and robust health and wellness content to the Black community."

HealthiNation is committed to increasing awareness of health inequities and encouraging communities to take responsibility for their health. Through its partnership with BET, it will expand its reach as a resource through which Black people can learn to be their own health care advocates and address the conditions and risk factors that significantly affect the African American community.

BET seeks to leverage its position as a leading provider of entertaining, engaging and empowering content and its partnership with HealthiNation to contribute meaningfully to the current conversation about racial equity in healthcare, while equipping our audiences with tools and resources to take control of their own health.

For more information, visit www.BET.com/health.

About BET

BET, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS Inc. (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC), is the nation's leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel is in 125 million households and can be seen in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, sub-Saharan Africa and France. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions including BET.com, a leading Internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET HER, a 24-hour entertainment network targeting the African-American Woman; BET Music Networks - BET Jams, BET Soul and BET Gospel; BET Home Entertainment; BET Live, BET’s growing festival business; BET Mobile, which provides ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, which operates BET around the globe.

About HealthiNation

HealthiNation is a leading producer and provider of award-winning video content covering health conditions, nutrition, fitness, recipes, wellness, and lifestyle. Content can be found at www.healthination.com as well as on HealthiNation's extended distribution network which includes doctor's offices, hospitals, Apple News, and Roku. HealthiNation is a member of the Internet Advertising Bureau, and provides a brand-safe, medically reviewed environment for leading pharmaceutical companies to place their video advertising.