87 2021 ESG Report Transparency Appendices Responsible supply chain Product impact Climate change Introduction Healthy workforce and communities ESG issues Text in blue italics indicates feedback from stakeholder interviews that were carried out as part of the ESG assessment. ESG issue Definition How we manage this issue Accessibility • Expanding ac cess to BD products and services to low-income patients and underserved populations around the world. Stakeholders see BD as a leader in improving accessibility for underserved populations. For more details, refer to the Access to health section. Advancing Medical Analytics and Automation • Driving c ontinuous development of new approaches to information and knowledge management in order to improve solutions for biomedical science, quality patient care and public health needs. Automation and analytics are central to the use of data to improve health outcomes, manufacturing, the changing nature of work and cybersecurity. Stakeholders want to see how BD will continue to lead in these areas and optimize existing data sources to improve health outcomes. The future of healthcare is changing, and we see three irreversible forces that are going to be shaping healthcare in new way: • Smart c onnected care • A shift t o new care settings • Chr onic disease outcomes For details on how we are approaching our two axes of growth—Durable Core and Transformative Solutions—see About our business . Affordability • Expanding the quality and aff ordability of healthcare, especially in emerging and developing economies. • De veloping a transparent pricing strategy for key geographic areas, including tiered developed and emerging market pricing, and engaging with customers to improve product pricing transparency, reimbursement and affordability. Stakeholders would like to see BD leading on low-cost products for emerging markets and passing along cost savings to patients. Our Global Public Health team works to strengthen healthcare systems across the world by developing and deploying market-appropriate solutions. For more details, refer to the Access to health section and the Global Public Health website . Availability • Supporting av ailability of treatments to address significant disease burden, including those currently unaddressed, through innovation, research and development of new technologies. • C ollaborating with customers to improve clinical outcomes and scientific cooperation. For further details on our approach in this area, refer to the Innovation at BD section. Collaboration and Partnerships • W orking with diverse stakeholders and multi-stakeholder partnerships to tackle global sustainability and health challenges and drive positive innovations, including through public policy engagement. We aim to build on existing partnership successes and develop new strategic partnerships that work across the value chain. An example of this is our 2030+ goal to expand partnerships to address the impact of plastics. Partnerships are central to our social investing activities and access to health programs.