In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Read More

In recent decades, there has been remarkable growth in scientific research examining the multiple ways in which racism can adversely affect health. This interest has been driven in part by the striking persistence of racial/ethnic inequities in health and the empirical evidence that indicates that socioeconomic factors alone do not account for racial/ethnic inequities in health. Read More

Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. Learn More

American medicine, like most American institutions, has served as a vehicle for white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Key historical arcs include a false narrative of Black biological inferiority used to justify unequal treatment and human rights abuses, Black professional exclusion, and silence and inaction regarding racial injustice. The following examples are illustrative though by no means comprehensive. Read More

Structural racism—how societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems⁴ including the health-care system—violates the human rights of minoritised people. And structural racism is associated with adverse health outcomes—eg, poor health-care quality and access, increased risk of preterm birth and low birthweight, increased risk of cancer—and perpetuates health inequities through mechanisms including racial segregation—ie, residential, school, workforce—immigration policy, and discriminatory incarceration. Read More

Over 84,000 black and brown lives are needlessly lost each year due to health disparities: the unfair, unjust, and avoidable differences between the quality and quantity of health care provided to Americans who are members of racial and ethnic minorities and care provided to whites. Learn More 

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present

The first full history of Black America’s shocking mistreatment as unwilling and unwitting experimental subjects at the hands of the medical establishment. No one concerned with issues of public health and racial justice can afford not to read this masterful book that will stir up both controversy and long-needed debate. Learn More

Black and Blue: The Origins and Consequences of Medical Racism

Black & Blue is the first systematic description of how American doctors think about racial differences and how this kind of thinking affects the treatment of their black patients. The standard studies of medical racism examine past medical abuses of black people and do not address the racially motivated thinking and behaviors of physicians practicing medicine today. Learn More