Living on the streets can be deadly
People in Boston who “sleep rough”—live on the streets instead of in shelters—have a death rate that is nearly three times higher than those living in shelters and nearly 10 times higher than that of the general population…
Health effects of Jim Crow laws linger
Jim Crow laws continue to have negative effects on the health of black Americans, even more than 50 years after being outlawed, according to epidemiologists. In an April 26 Tonic article, experts cited studies suggesting that early-life exposure…
Op-ed: Reported censorship at CDC could cost health, lives
According to a recent Washington Post report, senior staff at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were told not to use certain words in budget submissions—words like “fetus,” “evidence-based,” and “diversity.” Harvard T.H. Chan School…
Jim Crow laws: A contributing factor to more lethal breast cancer among U.S. black women now?
November 1, 2017 – Jim Crow laws—which legalized racial discrimination in Southern U.S. states from the late 1870s through the mid-1960s—have been linked with negative health impacts. A new study led by Harvard Chan School’s Nancy Krieger, professor of…
U.S. data scant on deaths, injuries by law enforcement
While copious data document the career of former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, few statistics are available on the phenomenon he protested by kneeling during pre-game performances of the national anthem—police killings of African Americans. Maybe sports fans, with…
More than half of police killings not officially documented on U.S. death certificates
Official death certificates in the U.S. failed to count more than half of the people killed by police in 2015—and the problem of undercounting is especially pronounced in lower-income counties and for deaths that are due to Tasers,…
Health professionals must challenge those who benefit from hate, inequity
Public health professionals must expose and challenge individuals, organizations, and political parties who directly benefit from hate and inequity, writes Nancy Krieger in the British Medical Journal (BMJ)
Understanding slavery’s legacy in health and medicine
May 8, 2017—In the 18th through early 20th centuries, white physicians studied black slaves and their descendants in an attempt to identify characteristics that were distinctive of their race. They believed that all questions about health could be…
Focus on structural racism essential for advancing health equity
Structural racism—discriminatory practices embedded in systems such as housing, education, and criminal justice—is a root cause of health inequities in the United States, according to a new paper by researchers from the New York City Department of Health…
Racism-induced stress linked with high black infant mortality rates
The mortality rate among black infants in the U.S. is more than twice that of white infants—in some urban areas, even higher—and a growing body of evidence suggests that a key factor may be stress among black mothers…