Black History Month: Structural Racism Is a Driver of Health Disparities
February 16, 2022
The nation’s history of structural racism must be acknowledged as a driver of health problems and shortened lives for Black people and other racial and ethnic groups, says an American Heart Association report that seeks to spark action to fix the problem. ... Structural racism refers to “the ways in which society is set up in such a way that advantages and opportunities are preferentially given to those of one race rather than to another,” said co-author Dr. Mitchell Elkind, immediate past president of the American Heart Association for 2021-22 and a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. “We have to change the underlying structure that allows that to happen.” [read more]