In America, health outcomes are far too often dictated by the color of your skin. There is an almost 40% gap between the quality of care received by whites and African-Americans in the United States, and the disparity persists even when insurance status, education levels, and income are taken into account. That accounts for much of the U.S. life expectancy gap of 3.4 years between whites and blacks.
40%The gap between the quality of health care received by whites and African-Americans in the United States.
But this gap also reflects disparities that exist far beyond health care. Racial segregation restricts access to such health-promoting resources as stable housing, healthy food choices, quality schools, job opportunities, and safe streets and parks. In fact, racism itself is a health risk. Most African-Americans report discrimination as a chronic stressor – the constant need to “brace yourself” for the possibility of being treated differently simply wears one down. Eliminating racial and economic barriers is central to RWJF’s vision of building a Culture of Health where everyone in America has the opportunity to live their healthiest life possible, no matter the color of their skin or their economic status. But change is not happening fast enough. To speed things up, RWJF is seeking out new partnerships from all sectors, and encouraging collaborations between groups that might not have thought of working together. Our country’s core values include fairness and equal opportunity; achieving those requires inclusive, creative thinking, not only at the national level but city by city, neighborhood by neighborhood. That calls for a joint effort by government, businesses, health providers, community organizations, law enforcement, and educators.
[For more of this story, written by Dr. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, go to https://www.livingcities.org/b...g-equality-to-health]
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