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Health Disparities are a Symptom of Broader Social and Economic Inequities
by SAMANTHA ARTIGA | KAISER HEALTH NEWS | June 1, 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic and killing of George Floyd along with other recent deaths of Black people at the hands of police have laid bare stark structural and systemic racial inequities and their impacts on the health and well-being of individuals and communities. While these events have brought health and health care disparities into sharp focus for the media and public, they are not new. These longstanding and persistent health disparities are symptoms of broader social and economic challenges that are rooted in structural and systemic barriers across sectors — including housing, education, employment, and the justice system — as well as underlying racism and discrimination. Amid this difficult time for our nation, the increased recognition and understanding of disparities could provide a catalyst for the challenging work required to address them. Despite being recognized and documented for many years, disparities in health and health care have persisted and in some cases widened over time. Our analysis finds that Black and American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN) individuals continue to fare worse compared to White individuals across most examined measures of health status, including physical and mental health status; birth risks; infant mortality rates; HIV and AIDS diagnosis and death rates; and prevalence of and death rates due to certain chronic conditions (Figure 1). For example, the infant mortality rate for Black and AIAN individuals is roughly two times higher than the rate for White individuals. Black teens and adults have an over eight times higher HIV diagnosis rate and a nearly ten times higher AIDS diagnosis rate compared to their White counterparts; the HIV and AIDS diagnosis rates for Hispanic teens and adults are more than three times higher compared to the rates for those who are White.
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Figure 1: Number of Measures for which Group Fared Better, the Same or Worse Compared to Whites The disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people of color mirror and compound these broader underlying racial/ethnic disparities in health. Data across states show that, in the majority of states reporting data, Black people account for a higher share of COVID-19-related deaths and cases compared to their share of the population. Similarly, Hispanic individuals make up a higher share of confirmed cases relative to their share of the population in most states reporting data, and there have been striking disproportionate impacts for American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander people in some states. The resulting economic crisis has also had an unequal effect on people of color. Health disparities, including disparities related to COVID-19, are symptoms of broader underlying social and economic inequities that reflect structural and systemic barriers and biases across sectors. Though health care is essential to health, it is a relatively weak health determinant. Research shows that social determinants of health—the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age—are primary drivers of health. They include factors like socioeconomic status, education, neighborhood and physical environment, employment, and social support networks, as well as access to health care (Figure 2). For example, children born to parents who have not completed high school are more likely to live in an environment that poses barriers to health such as lack of safety, exposed garbage, and substandard housing. They also are less likely to have access to sidewalks, parks or playgrounds, recreation centers, or a library. Further, evidence shows that stress negatively affects health across the lifespan and that environmental factors may have multi-generational impacts.
Figure 2 -Social Economic Factors Drive Health Outcomes The heightened focus on and understanding of disparities can serve as a catalyst for the challenging work required to address them. Steps can be taken within the health care system that would help address health disparities. For example, actions to expand health coverage, such as adoption of the Medicaid expansion to low-income adults in the 14 states that have not yet expanded; increasing accessibility to health care providers; increasing access to linguistically and culturally appropriate care; and diversifying the health care workforce could help reduce health disparities. However, efforts to address health disparities also require cross-sector approaches beyond health care to affect the broader social and economic factors driving health. For example, actions to increase access to healthy food options and improve food security; improve affordability and quality of housing; enhance educational opportunities; improve built environments and provide more green spaces and recreational opportunities; and increase financial security and economic opportunity may all positively affect health and reduce health disparities. Beyond these factors, any effort would be woefully incomplete if it does not also recognize and address racism and discrimination and long histories of stress and trauma affecting the health of individuals and communities and how they shape our systems and policies. Such efforts are challenging and complex and require strong leadership, community engagement, resources, and cross-sector collaboration to achieve progress forward. KAISER HEALTH NEWS, an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, produced this story. California Healthline is a free, daily publication featuring health care news, opinion and original reporting, designed to meet the information needs of busy health care professionals, decision makers, media organizations and consumers.
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Ramón Cruz Elected First Boricua / Latinx President of the Sierra Club
OAKLAND, CA | SIERRA CLUB | May 18, 2020 — The Sierra Club has elected a new national Board of Directors for the upcoming board term, 2020-2021. Ramón Cruz of Puerto Rico, currently residing in New York City, was elected President, becoming the first Latino President in the organization’s 128-year history. The Sierra Club’s National Board of Directors is democratically elected by the organization’s membership and serves the organization’s 3.8 million members and supporters.
Cruz has over 20 years of experience and advocacy at the intersection of sustainability, environmental & energy policy, urban planning, and climate change. He has worked in the public sector as the Deputy Director of the state environmental regulatory agency in Puerto Rico and held senior positions at the Environmental Defense Fund, the Partnership for New York City and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. Ramón is a graduate of American University in Washington D.C. and Princeton University in New Jersey. “I am honored and humbled to be elected President, and especially excited to be the first Puerto Rican President of the Sierra Club and to come from
To fight US racism… continued from page 6
It may be tempting for people to work locally to address these injustices, and those efforts can indeed make changes. But our research shows that a national solution would be the best way to heal from America’s “original sin” of slavery and longstanding institutional racism, and achieve lasting peace and justice. BENJAMIN APPEL (Ph.D., University of Maryland, 2012) is an assistant professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. His research and teaching interests include world politics, conflict processes, international law and institutions, and research design and statistical issues. CYANNE E. LOYLE (Ph.D., University of Maryland) is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Pennsylvania State University and a Global Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). Her research is motivated by a desire to better understand and contribute to the prevention of violent conflict and the violation of human rights. She does this through assessing the intersection of violent behavior, political institutions, and political participation. our organization’s youngest chapter” said Cruz. “I recognize that my term comes during the enormously difficult and unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, as well as during the dark threat to the environment of the Trump administration. While the challenges we face are daunting, the magnitude of our response must meet the moment with a responsibility to ensure that we advocate effectively for policies that put front and center protecting the most vulnerable among us.” Cruz’s top priorities as President include: • Advancing the Sierra Club’s movement toward equity and justice, especially by ensuring that the organization is an inclusive space for all people to contribute to a safe environment, working in partnership with local groups nationwide in accordance with the Jemez Principles. • Doubling down on the organization’s work to defeat the anti-environmental agenda of the Trump administration and the fleet of industry lobbyists and associates he has put in charge of the most important agencies of government. “Ramón Cruz is a leader who has dedicated his life to protecting and preserving our environment, and the Sierra Club is thrilled to have him as our President” said Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune. Other newly elected officers for 2020-2021 are Ross Macfarlane of Washington state (vice president); Natalie Lucas of Ohio (secretary); Mike O’Brien of Washington state (treasurer); and Debbie Heaton of Delaware (5th officer). Newly elected directors are Rita Harris of Mississippi, Marion Klaus of Utah, and Patrick Murphy of Texas. THE SIERRA CLUB is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3.8 million members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person’s right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.
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Statement on Racial Justice in Higher Education
Washington, DC | American Association of University Professors | June.24.2020 - The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) issued the following statement on June 24, 2020: As the ongoing demonstrations of the past few weeks have shown, our nation is once again being called on to reckon with systemic racism and its impact on Black, Latinx, indigenous, and other people of color. Black lives matter, and the AAUP stands in solidarity with all those who are protesting racism and police brutality. We stand ready to support faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education whose affiliated institutions take or threaten to take negative action against them as a result of their exercising their right to protest. We recognize that our BIPOC members and colleagues are considerably more vulnerable when they exercise this right, and, as such, are most in need of support and protection. We call on our chapters, our members, and campus administrations to stand firm in their support of members of the campus community who speak out in the name of anti-racism and racial justice, and we offer the following guidance and recommendations. Freedom of extramural speech, including comments made by faculty outside the classroom and on social media, is essential to the American conception of academic freedom that the AAUP has played a central role in defining and refining. All members of the academic community have a responsibility to defend academic freedom and freedom of speech and assembly. Calls for civility and campus speech codes have the potential to restrict extramural speech of faculty. These calls are often deployed against faculty of color, and faculty of color are more likely to be disciplined for “uncivil” behavior. As we recognize in our statement On Freedom of Expression and Campus Speech Codes, “offensive style or opprobrious phrases may in fact have been chosen precisely for their expressive power.” Faculty must not be disciplined for engaging in “uncivil” or “offensive” speech. In the current political climate, faculty who engage in protest are more likely than ever to face targeted online harassment as a result of their activities— harassment that, again, disproportionately targets non-white faculty. Institutions must recommit to the defense of academic freedom and institutional autonomy, which includes protecting the institution from undue public interference. We call on administrations and governing boards, in particular, to condemn targeted harassment and intimidation and to reject calls for dismissal or suspension of faculty members who have exercised their right to protest. We further recognize that in the current political climate, Black studies, Latinx studies, indigenous studies, and other ethnic studies programs are especially vulnerable to political interference, including cuts to funding and program elimination. Threats to these programs have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. We call on our chapters, our members, and campus administrations to defend these programs from cuts and undue interference and to affirm the importance of programs that challenge systemic racism to fulfilling higher education’s fundamental contribution to the common good. The AAUP is a nonprofit membership association of faculty and other academic professionals. Headquartered in Washington, DC, we have members and chapters based at colleges and universities across the country. Since our foundation in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities. We define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, advance the rights of academics, particularly as those rights pertain to academic freedom and shared governance, and promote the interests of higher education teaching and research.
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Breonna Taylor was shot by police continued from page 4
Sarah: For so long, everybody voted for desegregation maybe because it never really pushed them too hard. I had to take a bus a long way, but I still got to be in the Advance Program. Is this the point where that will change? Can we push harder? Delquan: Hopefully. Because justice matters. Education and economics are turnkeys that impact everything. If I make a decent income, I can impact my health. I can impact my housing. And those who have more resources do better in the court system. We think law enforcement is a solution to crime. It’s not. [The police] have been able to get away with [brutality] because it’s been race based. The history of the police department was to find runaway slaves. You approached a Black person and they had to produce their papers. It’s no different now. After 400 years of that, there’s a traumatic impact on your psyche. We’re doing some things in JCPS. But we’ve got to work harder. I’m praying that this attitude from the powers that be remains in place when it comes to addressing systemic racism. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. THE HECHINGER REPORT, a nonprofit, independent news organization, focused on inequality and innovation in education produced this story about systemic racism and education. Culture & Conversation Culture & Conversation SARAH GARLAND is the executive editor of The Hechinger.
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Las Escuelas Públicas de Springfield solicitan la aportación (input) de la comunidad para ayudar a construir un Retrato de un Graduando (Portrait of a Graduate) - una visión de las habilidades y atributos que los estudiantes de Springfield necesitan para encontrar éxito en la universidad y en sus carreras profesionales.
