Overview
Nobody wants to name the problem, but let’s call it what it is: social injustice is part of our healthcare system. Black and Hispanic people are far more likely to get sick and die from the 10 leading causes of death due to a range of factors, including lack of access and discrimination in our healthcare system and policies. When you consider that most treatments and drugs are only tested on white males, it’s clear we’re ignoring the unique wellness needs of so many other populations. And the result of these disparities gets passed down through generations. We need to work on solutions now.
This week on The Doctor’s Farmacy I sat down with Dr. Charles Modlin, Dr. Leonor Osorio, and Tawny Jones from Cleveland Clinic to talk about these issues and ways to create a new multi-cultural dynamic in healthcare. Throughout our conversation, we address the cascading effects of racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and unconscious bias on minority health. Unfortunately, this is a historic problem, with injustices like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment that started in the 1930s leading to a deep mistrust of the medical system that still lingers in the Black community. Of course, that’s only one of many examples of social injustice in the system.
We talk about the financial burdens many people face—keep the lights on or go to the doctor?—as well as how children learn habits around food and healthcare from their parents and how open and honest education can be a huge catalyst for change. Food is not white or black and it’s one of our greatest tools for creating better health, we talk about some of the initiatives that are doing that. I hope you’ll tune in.
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