Are race and poor health connected?

Here are four ways in which systemic racism harms health.

1. Political power

Due to systemic racism, People of Colour are often unable to build the political power to access the things they need to be healthy, such as clean water, pollution free neighbourhoods, well-resourced schools, affordable housing, and access to medical care.

2. Economic disadvantage

Systemic racism places People of colour at an economic disadvantage as there are more racially discriminatory obstacles to getting the economic resources and opportunities to live well and healthily. lower levels of income, wealth, and education among people of color have repeatedly been shown to be major contributors to racial or ethnic disparities in health

3. Health hazards and housing

Working class people of colour are more likely to live near pollution because of economic disadvantage. living near or being exposed constantly to things like air pollution, toxic waste, mold in substandard housing, or other environmental hazards, harms their health. on top of this, systemic racism in healthcare means access to support, care, treatment and health education is a lot harder to get

4. Medical racism

Due to systemic racism in healthcare, people or colour are more likely to be treated poorly by healthcare professionals. This badly affects the quality of treatment people of colour receive. Patients of colour are more likely to receive less compassion when going through illness (mental and physical), poor level of patient safety and more likely to receive a late diagnosis or a misdiagnosis putting their health at further risk.