Introduction
“Health Is a Human Right” is an exhibition exploring some of the historical obstacles the United States has faced in the past 120 years in achieving universal healthcare. Minorities, those with low incomes, and other socially disadvantaged groups experience considerable disparities in their access to optimal health opportunities. This summary will focus on the parts of the exhibition about structural racism and economic opportunity and determine the factors that affect them.
Structural Racism
The first part of the exhibit is about structural racism, a widespread problem in the US. The exhibit provides a description of racism and structural racism, as well as how they affect the daily lives of minorities residing in the United States. As an example, the exhibit explains the Indian Citizenship Act, which, while giving Native Americans US citizenship, did not give them the right to vote in some states (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.). Thus, structural racism is still a prevalent problem in US internal politics, which can endanger public health.
Discrimination and health are subtopics of structural racism and are factors that actively affect public health. The exhibit shows that racial discrimination is stressful and can eventually lead to illnesses, such as the birth of low-weight babies among the black population of America (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.). This topic falls under the social determinant, as the health problems explained in the exhibit and those that American minorities suffer from are the result of discrimination, a social factor. A study shows that discrimination can lead to worsening mental health, substance abuse, and lower adherence to norms in healthcare (Williams et al., 2019). Thus, discrimination actively harms the health of American minorities, leading to racial differences in health in the country.
Discriminatory housing in the first half of the twentieth century is another prevalent issue described in the exhibit. The topic covers the practices that prevent the non-white population of the US from homeownership. One such practice was redlining, in which banks denied government-sponsored homeownership in some neighborhoods based on racial composition (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.). Discriminatory housing falls under the social determinant as well, as the inability of the non-white population to receive government-sponsored housing is the result of institutionalized racism.
Supporting this claim is a recent study on racial discrimination that shows the prevalence of racism in the modern housing market. It has been found that the black and Hispanic populations of the US find it harder to secure mortgages and are more likely to pay higher mortgage costs (Quillian et al., 2020). Thus, racial discrimination was and still is a major factor in the housing market.
Economic Opportunity
The second part of the exhibit covered in this paper is economic opportunity. The topic explains that although the US has always offered opportunities for hard-working people, minorities are still working in lower-income jobs for fewer hours, resulting in lower levels of education, poorer diet, and health (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.). The exhibit offers an example of a malaria epidemic among black plantation workers in the South that was caused by poor living conditions. However, the high rate of infection was attributed to a presumed inferiority of black people compared to white people in terms of health (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.). Thus, America, while offering many opportunities, still struggles with including minorities in its workforce on fair terms.
Unemployment in America has a major impact on the population’s overall health. The exhibit shows the high level of poverty among the Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation and the economic recession in the 1970s, which caused high unemployment rates (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.). As studies show, unemployment and underemployment, which are social determinants, can decrease public health levels. This is because people without a stable income find it harder to access healthcare, education, food, and childcare, worsening physical and mental health (Pratap et al., 2021). Hence, while unemployment is a social determinant, it affects public health, denying the unemployed access to proper healthcare.
Furthermore, violating fair employment practices can negatively affect workers’ health. The exhibit includes Franklin D. Roosevelt establishing a Fair Employment Practices Committee to mitigate workplace discrimination. It also covers American women entering the industrial labor force during World War II, only to be forcefully removed from it by the returning soldiers after the war ended. Lastly, the topic explains the foundation of the United Farm Workers to promote justice and human dignity in the workforce (“Health is a Human Right,” n.d.).
While being a social determinant, the violation of fair employment practices can lead to the deterioration of health. The working conditions of nurses have greatly worsened during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, with their health being endangered due to inadequate equipment. Nurses’ employment and working conditions are, in turn, influenced by the nursing power structure and employment relationships (Llop-Gironés et al., 2021). Thus, despite the creation of unions and committees that aim to mitigate workplace discrimination, it still occurs and endangers the health of the workers involved.
Conclusion
To summarize, both Structural Racism and Economic Opportunity are the factors that affect the health of marginalized groups. Through social determinants, minorities are denied basic healthcare, education, and housing opportunities, resulting in a deteriorating level of health. Thus, recent studies call for a more progressive outlook on integrating these groups into the wider American society, one that will allow for a fairer distribution of the abovementioned opportunities.
References
Health is a Human Right. (n.d.). Georgia State University Library. Web.
Llop-Gironés, A., Vračar, A., Llop-Gironés, G., Benach, J., Angeli-Silva, L., Jaimez, L., Thapa, P., Bhatta, R., Mahindrakar, S., Scavo, S. B., Devi, S. N., Barria, S., Alonso, S. M., & Julià, M. (2021). Employment and working conditions of nurses: where and how health inequalities have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic?Human Resources for Health, 19(112), 1–11. Web.
Pratap, P., Dickson, A., Love, M., Zanoni, J., Donato, C., Flynn, M. A., & Schulte, P. A. (2021). Public health impacts of underemployment and unemployment in the United States: Exploring perceptions, gaps, and opportunities. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19), 1–25. Web.
Quillian, L., Lee, J. J., & Honoré, B. (2020). Racial discrimination in the U.S. housing and mortgage lending markets: A quantitative review of trends, 1976–2016. Race and Social Problems, 12, 13–28. Web.
Williams, D. R., Lawrence, J. A., Davis, B. A., & Vu, C. (2019). Understanding how discrimination can affect health. Health Services Research, 54(S2), 1–15. Web.