CDC Recognition of Racism in Healthcare
On April 8, 2021 the Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Rochelle Walensky, made a public statement, significantly adding to the discussion and discourse in healthcare.
In her statement, the Director speaks to the events of the pandemic and how “the pandemic illuminated inequities that have existed for generations and revealed for all of America a known, but often unaddressed, epidemic impacting public health: racism.” (2021) Her statement addresses how communities of color are predominantly and unequally affected by the pandemic, illuminating the existing vulnerabilities within the healthcare system and pointing to social determinants of health for an explanation.
Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet medical journal, characterized Covid-19 not as a Pandemic but as a Syndemic. He distinguishes the two: “Syndemics are characterised by biological and social interactions between conditions and states, interactions that increase a person's susceptibility to harm or worsen their health outcomes.” (Horton, 2020) Horton’s explanation joins Director Walensky as she identifies social determinants of health as the explanation for the disproportionate effects of the virus on vulnerable populations. Horton continues “The most important consequence of seeing COVID-19 as a syndemic is to underline its social origins. The vulnerability of older citizens; Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities; and key workers who are commonly poorly paid with fewer welfare protections…” (2020) Notably the Director states, “ Racism is not just the discrimination against one group based on the color of their skin or their race or ethnicity, but the structural barriers that impact racial and ethnic groups differently to influence where a person lives, where they work, where their children play, and where they worship and gather in community. These social determinants of health have life-long negative effects on the mental and physical health of individuals in communities of color.”(Walensky, 2021)
A slew of articles and research reported from NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kaiser Family Foundation, and more continue to populate our news feeds with topics about racial disparities, inequities in healthcare, and social determinants of health. What we are seeing is an official recognition and bloom of evidence to support the claims that have been long expressed by the public health community. Those affected are incredibly aware of the barriers they face, but so often it takes “us” years to get around to supporting these claims. Today, the CDC, a top global medical authority publicly recognizes the issue.
The CDC announced it’s commitment to pursuing the following goals: continuing to study the impact of social determinants of health with a specific interest in racism in health, allocating Covid-19 funding to strengthening health systems in vulnerable communities, expanding internal efforts toward diversity, and the launch of a new web portal “Racism in Health” to provide a platform for research, discourse and discussion. (Walensky, 2021) To check out the new CDC “Racism in Health” website click here.
Recognition and calling it out by it’s name is the first step. It allows for the public to hold agencies and leaders accountable to their claims. The hope is that we can see an America where people of all identities are treated equitably by institutions, medical and not.
Sources:
Horton, R. (2020). Offline: COVID-19 is not a pandemic. The Lancet, 396(10255), 874. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(20)32000-6
Media statement from CDC DIRECTOR Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, on racism and health. (2021, April 08). Retrieved April 14, 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0408-racism-health.html