Soon after COVID-19 spread across the United States, the racial disparities became clear: Black Americans’ chances of dying after infection were — and remain — twice that of white Americans. The realization spurred discussion in news reports across the country about health inequities. But highlighting the racial disparities in COVID-19 infection and death made some white […]
Health
Posted inHealth, Maternal Health
How Racism in America Affects Black Babies — Even Before They’re Born
This is an excerpt from Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation. The book, by journalist Linda Villarosa, examines the inequities that quietly wear on Black Americans’ health from before birth, causing them to “live sicker and die quicker.” Villarosa, former executive editor of […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Organ Transplants Reached a Record High Last Year. Why Are Black Donors Still So Rare?
It was during a road trip that Steven Robinson stopped to visit his former college roommate and noticed something was wrong. Richard Koonce had lost weight – evidence of the dwindling appetite and low energy that the 62-year-old had been experiencing for the past two years. Koonce revealed that he had been struggling with primary […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Meet the Black Women Behind the New Digital Startups Aimed at Reducing Health Disparities
The trip from Sacramento to Oakland, California, is an hour and a half on a good day. Maybe three when traffic jams the highway. But it’s a trip some of Dr. Joy Cooper’s patients were willing to take to see a provider who looked like them. “Otherwise,” she said, “they would not see a Black […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
As COVID Precautions Drop, Black Americans Remain More Affected — and More Concerned
Pastor Robert Pope has been talking about COVID-19 since the virus first took hold. He talks about it at the gas station, at restaurants, and – most frequently – at his church. Pope has made Encanto Southern Baptist Church in San Diego a hub for pandemic education, testing and vaccination. He’s been following the statistics, […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
A Nationwide Ban on Menthol Cigarettes Could Be Coming, and It’s Dividing Racial Justice Advocates
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to introduce a nationwide ban on the sale of menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars this spring, a move intended to reduce racial health disparities in tobacco-related diseases and death. But the proposal has divided racial justice advocates who debate whether the health benefits would come at the […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Why Race Matters So Much to Your Health
Black Americans face disproportionately high rates of poor health outcomes across most illnesses: diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, asthma – to name a few. For most cancers, Black Americans’ death rates are higher than other racial groups and their survival rates are shorter. Black men have the highest rates of prostate and colorectal cancer compared to […]
Posted inHealth, Mental Health
The Reading List: The Mental Health Crisis Affecting Black America
Editor’s note: This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is considering suicide, free resources are available. Please see our list below. The mental health crisis in the United States is growing, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which isolated Americans from friends and family and spiked feelings of anxiety. More Black […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
COVID-19 Remains the Great Unequalizer
Soon after the coronavirus arrived in the United States, the racial inequities of its devastating toll became apparent: Black people were dying at twice the rate of whites. The data shocked some Americans. Others panicked. The role that race and ethnicity play in Americans’ health outcomes became headline news as the numbers were broadcast across […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
The Reading List: Black Communities and COVID-19
Not long after the first COVID-19 case was detected in the United States, the virus began to devastate Black families. Black Americans are nearly three times as likely to be hospitalized due to the virus than white Americans, and twice as likely to die, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control […]
