LibGuides: Racial Justice and the United States: Healthcare

Racism's Impact on Healthcare

Disparities in healthcare and healthcare outcomes by Race

Both access to healthcare and healthcare outcomes differ by race. Key findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation include:

Among adults with any mental illness, Black (39%), Hispanic (36%), and Asian (25%) adults were less likely than White (52%) adults to receive mental health services as of 2021.
At birth, AIAN and Black people had a shorter life expectancy (65.2 and 70.8 years, respectively) compared to White people (76.4) as of 2021, and AIAN, Hispanic, and Black people experienced larger declines in life expectancy than White people between 2019 and 2021.
Black infants were more than two times as likely to die as White infants (10.4 vs. 4.4 per 1,000), and AIAN infants were nearly twice as likely to die as White infants (7.7 vs. 4.4 per 1,000) as of 2021. Black and AIAN women also had the highest rates of pregnancy-related mortality.
Black (13%) and Hispanic (11%) children were over twice as likely to be food insecure than White children (4%) as of 2021.

Key Data on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity

The resources on this page will document these disparities and efforts to ameliorate the disparities

CDC: Racism and Health
This page from the Center for Disease Control contains statistics on current disparities as well as the CDC's efforts to combat the disparities.
NIH: Ending Structural Racism
From the National Institute on Health, the site includes a 'data dashboard' and a list of NIH pages dedicated to issues around diversity.
American Public Health Association: Racism and Health
Resources including articles, news and webinars, plus APHA's advocacy efforts.
Health and Human Services: Office of Minority Health
The Office of Minority Health is dedicated to improving the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that will help eliminate health disparities.

Dalsania, Ankur K., et al. “The Relationship Between Social Determinants of Health and Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Mortality.” Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities., Springer International Publishing, 2021.
Jalloh, Abubakarr, "How the pandemic’s unequal toll on people of color underlines US health inequities – and why solving them is so critical," The Conversation, 1/19/2022.
Markel, H. and Stern, A.M. (2002), The Foreignness of Germs: The Persistent Association of Immigrants and Disease in American Society. The Milbank Quarterly, 80: 757-788. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.00030
While this article predates COVID, it presents an opportunity to continue the article's research and analysis to the Pandemic.

Healthcare and Human Dignity by Frank M. McClellan
ISBN: 9781978802964
Publication Date: 2019-12-13
The individual and structural biases that affect the American healthcare system have serious emotional and physical consequences that all too often go unseen. These biases are often rooted in power, class, racial, gender or sexual orientation prejudices, and as a result, the injured parties usually lack the resources needed to protect themselves. In Healthcare and Human Dignity, individual worth, equality, and autonomy emerge as the dominant values at stake in encounters with doctors, nurses, hospitals, and drug companies.
Examining and Solving Health Disparities in the United States by Cheryl Green
ISBN: 9781799838760
Publication Date: 2021-05-28
Disparities in healthcare arise when there is an imbalance between opportunities to achieve optimal healthcare with access, education, and financial means. However, the difficult subject of health disparities in healthcare and its historical origins demonstrate that culture and race may contribute to health crises of minority groups within the United States. Educating vulnerable populations on making lifestyle modifications and reducing stress without educating healthcare professionals about increasing their awareness of hidden biases, prejudgment, and discrimination, will allow health disparities to remain.
Subprime Health by Nadine Ehlers (Editor); Leslie R. Hinkson (Editor)
ISBN: 9781517901493
Publication Date: 2017-07-15
From race-based pharmaceutical prescriptions and marketing, to race-targeted medical "hot spotting" and the Affordable Care Act, to stem-cell trial recruitment discourse, Subprime Health is a timely examination of race-based medicine as it intersects with the concept of debt.
The Science of Health Disparities Research by Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable (Editor); Irene Dankwa-Mullan (Editor); Kevin L. Gardner (Editor); Xinzhi Zhang (Editor); Adelaida M. Rosario (Editor)
ISBN: 9781119374848
Publication Date: 2021-03-01
Integrates the various disciplines of the science of health disparities in one comprehensive volume The Science of Health Disparities Research is an indispensable source of up-to-date information on clinical and translational health disparities science. Building upon the advances in health disparities research over the past decade, this authoritative volume informs policies and practices addressing the diseases, disorders, and gaps in health outcomes that are more prevalent in minority populations and socially disadvantaged communities.
Invisible Visits by Tina K. Sacks
ISBN: 9780190840204
Publication Date: 2019-01-31
Although the United States spends almost one-fifth of all its resources funding healthcare, the American system continues to be dogged by persistent inequities in the treatment of racial and ethnic minorities and women.ÂInvisible VisitsÂanalyzes how middle-class Black women navigate the complexities of dealing with doctors in this environment. It challenges the idea that race and gender discrimination-particularly in healthcare settings-is a thing of the past, and questions the persistent myth that discrimination only affects poor racial minorities.

Racial Justice and the United States

AMA Recognizes Racism as Public Health Threat

Covid Mortality

Racism's Impact on Healthcare

Disparities in healthcare and healthcare outcomes by Race