UMass Boston

Racism as a Public Health Problem

Course #: PUBHTH 330, Class #: 7227, Section #: 01

Description

This course examines the ways in which racism structures health outcomes, healthcare access, and public health priorities in the United States and globally in ways that produce health disadvantages for historically marginalized groups. We will examine how racism affects health across many dimensions, and why health disadvantages have persisted for people of color over time despite remarkable progress in medical care and medical interventions. Drawing on theory and broad research from public health, we will examine how structural racism in medical experimentation, residential segregation, incarceration, discrimination, education, and employment have created health inequalities that are a public health problem. This course will emphasize the important role of racism as a social determinant of health. Students will be encouraged to think critically about how to design public health interventions that prioritize social justice to achieve health equity.