The direct and indirect repercussions, particularly the long-term consequences, of the pandemic on all facets of health and well-being continue to be investigated and reported. DGIM Professor Keisha Bentley-Edwards has explored several areas impacted by the pandemic including contraceptive access and use among students, the impact of systemic racisms and pre-existing conditions for Black Americans, and access to behavioral weight loss interventions in Black adults. Her latest publication caps off a special series of articles in BMJ that aims to highlight “the societal actions that are needed to prevent the loss of another million citizens in the next pandemic and improve the nation’s health.” In their analysis published on February 26, Bentley-Edwards and colleagues argue that systemic racism is the underlying cause of the health disparities related to covid-19 in the U.S. Racialized groups in the U.S. suffered a disproportionate burden of the pandemic, further exacerbating problems with employment, family and home life, and other health conditions.
Despite the sobering statistics and the increased focus on systemic inequalities, no substantive progress has been made toward averting such outcomes for the next pandemic. Furthermore, disproportionate burdens continue to exist for other chronic diseases for racialized groups that could greatly benefit from changes initiated in response to the covid-19 pandemic. Bentley-Edwards and colleagues describe several potential approaches to reduce systemic racism, recognizing there is no singular approach and likely requiring a multi-faceted to yield measurable changes. At the local level, they recommend community partnerships, an area in which Duke has been working to strengthen. For example, Duke’s Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERI), a part of CTSA, connects research to communities and community-based organizations to promote health equity.
As addressing systemic racism will take time to yield changes in health inequalities, Bentley-Edwards and colleagues emphasize that society needs to address these issues immediately.
“Focusing on systemic barriers does not take away from personal agency, however, individual behaviors are bounded by systems and their environments that sustain behaviors," comments Bentley-Edwards. "The covid-19 pandemic has worsened existing health inequities and it feels like we are even further behind in our efforts to improve the situation for many racialized groups in the U.S. We need to take actions now before the memory of covid-19 fades and the ability to motivate change is lost.”
Reference
Bentley-Edwards KL, Adisa O, Ruff KE, McClure ES, Robinson WR. Race, racism, and covid-19 in the US: lessons not learnt. BMJ. 2024 Feb 26;384:e076106. [Link]