Systemic racism has undoubtedly played a massive role in public health with people of color. With socioeconomic conditions such as dietary restrictions, education, and living conditions, people of color are twice as likely to develop health conditions that result in premature deaths. When COVID-19 cases began to rise in America, lower-income communities, often filled with people of color, had some of the country’s highest cases. Residents in these areas often had pre-existing health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and respiratory conditions like asthma. The neglect and lack of federal funding, testing, treatment, and health insurance resulted in the rise in COVID cases at an alarming rate that claimed thousands of lives.
Studies have pointed out that dietary restriction often factors into racism in public health; people of color are usually limited to healthy choices in their area. Supermarkets like Whole Foods and Trader Joes, which offer a large scale of healthy options, are never in places where people of color make up the majority. Residents usually travel miles out of their way or rely on convenience stores in their area to get healthy food.
This is also a factor in living conditions. People of color in low-income neighborhoods are exposed to much higher rates of smoking, substance abuse, and lack of safe spaces. This aids in morbid obesity, diabetes, and mental health issues. These communities are often the targets for tobacco and alcohol industries as a result liquor stores are vastly more accessible than any other community. Systemic racism is extremely embedded in the medical field; former and practicing doctors are often biased or miseducated on health with people of color. A 2016 study showed that doctors in the medical field believe that black and brown patients had higher pain tolerance and thicker skin than white patients. Due to this, people of color receive lower doses of pain medication, or doctors refused due to their implicit biases.
Public leaders, world organizations, and people of color are now becoming increasingly more aware of just how detrimental racism is in public health. We are demanding changes and holding doctors accountable for their negligence.