CDC Director declares racism “A serious public health threat”

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Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on Thursday (April 8) declared racism “a serious public health threat”.

CDC director declares racism a public health crisis

In her statement, Walensky promised new efforts to “address racism as a fundamental driver of racial and ethnic health inequities in the United States.”

Walensky highlighted how communities of color have been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The impact of COVID-19 are felt, most severely, in communities of color—communities that have experienced disproportionate case counts and deaths, and where the social impact of the pandemic has been most extreme,” Walensky said.

“Instead, the pandemic illuminated inequities that have existed for generations and revealed for all of America a known, but often unaddressed, epidemic impacting public health: racism,” she continued.

Walensky called racism a public health crisis that directly impacts the well-being and health of millions of Americans.

She called on the CDC to play a larger role in addressing racism and its impact on the nation.

“What we know is this: racism is a serious public health threat that directly affects the well-being of millions of Americans. As a result, it affects the health of our entire nation. Racism is not just the discrimination against one group based on the color of their skin or their race or ethnicity, but the structural barriers that impact racial and ethnic groups differently to influence where a person lives, where they work, where their children play, and where they worship and gather in community. These social determinants of health have life-long negative effects on the mental and physical health of individuals in communities of color,” Walensky said.

List of actions

The CDC has listed a series of actions it plans to take in order to combat this issue including:

Study the impact of social determinants on health outcomes and expand evidence on how racism impacts health

Added funding for communities of color disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic

Expand internal agency efforts to foster greater diversity

Walensky also said a new web portal called “Racism and Health” will be added to “serve as a catalyst for public and scientific discourse around racism and health, and to be accountable for our progress.”