You may have heard about the racial wealth gap, but have you heard about the racial health gap? According to the NYTimes 1619 Project, “racial health disparities are foundational as democracy itself.”
Socioeconomic status and institutional racism lead to disparities across living conditions, limit access to quality health care, and contribute to chronic stress in the body. These factors lead to shorter life spans and higher likelihood of adverse health outcomes for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. A study by the American Bar Association notes that “racial and ethnic minorities receive lower-quality health care than white people – even when insurance status, income, age and severity of conditions are comparable.”
Some of the inequities that contribute to health disparities by race and ethnicity include:
- Discrimination across systems (healthcare, housing, education, criminal justice, finance)
- Lack of access to affordable and reliable healthcare
- Educational, income, and wealth gaps
- Exposure to higher levels of environmental pollutants (environmental racism)
Today’s Challenge
Read
- Declaration of Racism as a Public Health Crisis, from the City of Jackson. (3 mins)
https://www.cityofjackson.org/DocumentCenter/View/7618/Resolution_-Racism?bidId= - Check out this Fact Sheet from the American Psychological Association exploring the compounding impact of socioeconomic status and race on health. (10 mins)
https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-erm.pdf
Watch
- Watch this TEDMED video to hear David. R Williams, a public health sociologist, discuss why race and deep-rooted systemic racism have such a profound impact on health. (17:19) https://www.ted.com/talks/david_r_williams_how_racism_makes_us_sick
Listen
- Emergency Responders Confront Racial Bias (NPR Morning Edition). A report on how unconscious bias becomes dangerous in emergency medical situations where providers are much more likely to default to making decisions based on stereotypes.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/01/03/676039371/emergency-medical-responders-confront-racial-bias - Listen to this episode of Consider This from NPR – Who’s Getting Vaccinated and Who Isn’t: NPR Analysis Finds Stark Racial Divide. (19:38)
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM1NS9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbA/episode/ZTM1YTA5MzYtNGJhNy00NTgwLWE5YzgtNTAzNmEyODM5MTkx?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwiwgJn48OLuAhXWo54KHfLRBn4QjrkEegQIBBAF&ep=6
Discuss
- What factors contribute to disparities in health among racial/ethnic and gender groups in the US?
- How can training around issues of racism, and anti-racism in organizations, agencies, and institutions of all levels (including healthcare) lead to better outcomes for marginalized groups?
