Racism Is Bad For Our Health

On average, residents of largely black, inner-city Wilmington neighborhoods can expect to live 16 years less than those living in many of our predominantly white suburbs. Dr. Erin Knight, Associate Director of the University of Delaware Partnership for Healthy Communities and the Center for Community Research & Service, writes about the health inequities which arise from racism in an Op Ed published in the Delaware News Journal, February 27, 2020, and points out:   "Racial discrimination in all its forms, but especially within our public policies and institutions, is preventing Delawareans from reaching their full health potential."  She further adds Racism harms all of us. As health inequities persist, we need to spend more to treat chronic diseases, and it costs more in the form of lost productivity and lower economic output.  To see the whole column go to Delawareonline.  For more on this subject and to read latest evidence-based strategies for tackling health inequities please see "The Health Equity Guide for Public Health Practitioners and Partners," 2nd Edition, produced jointly by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, Division of Public Health and the University of Delaware. 

^{Updated 02/27/2020}