Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions
- PMID: 28402827
- DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30569-X
Structural racism and health inequities in the USA: evidence and interventions
Abstract
Despite growing interest in understanding how social factors drive poor health outcomes, many academics, policy makers, scientists, elected officials, journalists, and others responsible for defining and responding to the public discourse remain reluctant to identify racism as a root cause of racial health inequities. In this conceptual report, the third in a Series on equity and equality in health in the USA, we use a contemporary and historical perspective to discuss research and interventions that grapple with the implications of what is known as structural racism on population health and health inequities. Structural racism refers to the totality of ways in which societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems of housing, education, employment, earnings, benefits, credit, media, health care, and criminal justice. These patterns and practices in turn reinforce discriminatory beliefs, values, and distribution of resources. We argue that a focus on structural racism offers a concrete, feasible, and promising approach towards advancing health equity and improving population health.
Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Comment in
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Urgent action needed on health inequities among American Indians and Alaska Natives.Lancet. 2017 Apr 8;389(10077):1378-1379. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30883-8. Lancet. 2017. PMID: 28402807 No abstract available.
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Medical narratives: the patient is a 22-year-old black man….Lancet. 2017 Jun 3;389(10085):2190. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)31341-7. Lancet. 2017. PMID: 28589891 No abstract available.
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Health equity in Israel.Lancet. 2018 Feb 10;391(10120):534. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(17)32171-2. Lancet. 2018. PMID: 29617235 No abstract available.
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The United States' reckoning with racism during the COVID-19 pandemic: What can we learn and do as allergist-immunologists?J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021 Feb;147(2):504-506. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2020.10.034. Epub 2020 Nov 5. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2021. PMID: 33160972 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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