Racism in Health Care

Black Americans die younger than white Americans. White men and women are expected to live 8-10 years longer than African Americans. Nationally, African American babies are twice as likely to die in infancy than white babies.

Due to issues like racism and poverty that stretch back for generations, black Americans are still more likely to lack access to surgical and emergency medical care, more likely to patronize hospitals that employ less-experienced staff, and much less likely to receive high-quality primary care.

“…we see residential segregation and in those segregated neighborhoods you see that there are no fresh fruits and vegetables available, lots of liquor stores, lots of ads for fast food restaurants and it’s not safe to go walk.”

Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD is a Senior Fellow at the Morehouse School of Medicine’s Satcher Health Leadership Institute.

On Tuesday March 10th she spoke on “Achieving Health Equity: Tools for a National Conversation on Racism” at DU.

Dr. Jones hopes to initiate a national conversation on racism that will eventually lead to a National Campaign Against Racism.