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Experts: Health care system’s racial bias contributes to COVID-19 disparities
Discrimination in the health care system is contributing to stark disparities in how COVID-19 is sickening and killing people of color, according to health care experts. In a June 15, 2020 article in USA Today, experts talked about…
#ShutDownSTEM marks researchers’ commitment to ending racism
Researchers around the world are pausing work on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 to express support for ending racism in the scientific community and society as a whole, and to take time to reflect on ways to do so,…
Police killings can harm mental health of entire African American community
When police kill unarmed African Americans, the entire African American community in the state in which it occurs can suffer long-term negative mental health impacts, according to social scientist David R. Williams. In an interview on CNN’s “The…
Op-ed: ‘Racism is a public health crisis’
Racism is killing black Americans—both by fueling police violence against them and by propelling adverse socioeconomic conditions that contribute to serious health issues, according to a June 4, 2020 op-ed in the Washington Post by Harvard T.H. Chan…
Op-ed: Racism underlies both lethal policing and COVID-19 disparities
As protests against police brutality and racism rage across the U.S., some commentators have expressed concern that large numbers of people in close proximity will increase the spread of COVID-19, and some have even compared these risks to…
‘500 years’ worth of history’
June 4, 2020 – The death of George Floyd, an African American man who died on May 25 in Minneapolis after being restrained by a police officer who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for close to nine…
COVID-19 may lead to more maternal deaths among blacks, Latinos
Maternal mortality—the death of a woman during pregnancy or shortly after delivery—has hit racial minorities, particularly African Americans, hard for decades. Now, experts worry that the COVID-19 pandemic is making the situation worse, according to a May 14,…
America is Failing its Black Mothers
For decades, Harvard Chan alumni have shed light on high maternal mortality rates in African American women. Finally, policymakers are beginning to pay attention.
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…