In this episode, Roberta Timothy talks about her new international health project, Black Health Matters, and explains why racial justice is a public health issue. In this photo, Dr. Janice Bacon, a primary care physician with Central Mississippi Health Services, gives Jeremiah Young, 11, a physical exam.
(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
When COVID-19 first appeared, some called it the great equalizer. But the facts quickly revealed a grim reality: COVID-19 disproportionately impacts racialized communities.
This mural in-progress outside the Apple store in Montréal is a sign of antiracist allyship: will this work help society start to address the long-term health impacts of racism?
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson
While many institutions pledged their support for anti-racism work this summer, a health researcher says these ideas need to go further to address the long-term health impacts of internalized racism.
Instead of returning to “normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic, Canada should adopt a health-care system that focuses on prevention and the social determinants of health.
(Pixabay, Canva)
COVID-19 has shown the flaws of a reactive health-care system designed to care for people who are already sick. A preventive approach would be more equitable, less expensive and keep us healthier.
The pandemic’s mental health toll is not distributed equally. Its impact is disproportionately felt by racialized groups, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities and those experiencing poverty.
People exercising in Ellis Park in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Dino Lloyd/Gallo Images via Getty Images
South Africa faces high levels of noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The NHI is likely to battle to cope with treating large numbers of sick people.
A Cholera Patient, Random Shots No. 2. Cartoon by British satirist Robert Cruikshank, circa 1832.
(Wellcome Library)
Pandemic histories are useful for understanding COVID-19, but how they connect with race, public health, revolution, labour and colonialism are needed to explain the present and predict the future.
Protesters in São Paulo declare ‘Black Lives Matter’ at a June 7 protest spurred by both U.S. anti-racist protests and the coronavirus’s heavy toll on black Brazilians.
Marcello Zambrana/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
In Brazil, black COVID-19 patients are dying at higher rates than white patients. Worse housing quality, working conditions and health care help to explain the pandemic’s racially disparate toll.
Ladijane Sofia da Concecão, one of millions of unemployed housekeepers in Brazil, accepts a food donation from a friend in São Paulo, May 7, 2020.
Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images
Maids were among Brazil’s earliest COVID-19 victims, infected by employers who had been to Italy. Now 39% of Brazilian ‘domésticas’ have been let go, most without severance or sick leave.
One person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Eabametoong First Nation.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Canada’s public health-care system is one of the most well-developed in the world. And yet, many remote Indigenous communities are still not getting what they need.
The house call remains a fundamental medical service in 2020.
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From preventing emergency visits to understanding the context of a patient’s health issues, house calls have value in a modern medical practice.
Walpiri Transient Camp, Katherine: Western medicine can’t be expected to work for disadvantaged Indigenous Australians unless housing and social disadvantage are also addressed.
Simon Quilty, Australian National University and Lisa Wood, The University of Western Australia
A safe home, a working fridge and access to transport are all needed before western medicine has a chance of working in the long term. But a new way of providing care can help.
Young adults and people living in the inner city are among those most likely to be lonely, according to the ABC’s Australia Talks project.
from www.shutterstock.com
Loneliness is a bigger cause of death than a poor diet, obesity, alcohol consumption, and lack of exercise, and it’s on a par with heavy smoking. So let’s get talking about it.
The mother’s education level is also a factor.
Brainsil/Shutterstock
One in four Australians is overweight or obese by the time they reach adolescence, but it’s difficult to predict who is at risk. These three questions can help.
Prevention of chronic disease can reduce the vast financial, social and environmental costs of many health-care interventions.
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Maria De Jesus, American University School of International Service
President Trump recently announced in his State of the Union message that his administration will eliminate HIV within 10 years. He did not mention the social factors that must be addressed.
Parent uplifting ceremony at Squamish Nation’s Totem Hall.
(Nadia Beyzaei)
A design team at Emily Carr University worked with families from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation to support the development of healthy environments for children.
In poorer communities, shared spaces tend to be poorly maintained and utilitarian.
from shutterstock.com
We wear our surroundings like a cloak. Lower-income communities often live in environments that discourage healthy, outdoor activities. This perpetuates their poorer health and traps them in poverty.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne