Healthy Men: Fighting for health equity year-round
Indigenous, Black, and Pacific Islander Americans are more than twice as likely as the general public to die from COVID-19.
Written By:
Armin Brott, Tribune News Service | 7:00 am, Apr. 20, 2021 ×
A nurse prepares a syringe of the COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 16, 2020, in Westwood, Calif. (Los Angeles Times / TNS)
April is National Minority Health Month, making it the perfect time to focus on the often-significant disparities in health and well-being that affect racial and ethnic minorities across our country. But it’s important to remember that these inequities exist every single day of the year, not just in April.
Armin Brott
Tribune News Service
April is National Minority Health Month, making it the perfect time to focus on the often significant disparities in health and well-being that affect racial and ethnic minorities across our country. But itâs important to remember that these inequities exist every single day of the year, not just in April.
What do we mean by âdisparitiesâ and âinequitiesâ? Well, according to the Commonwealth Fund (www.commonwealthfund.org), compared with the general population, members of racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive preventive health services and often receive lower-quality care. They also have worse health outcomes for certain conditions.â
NIH aims to address COVID testing disparities in underserved communities
NIH aims to address COVID testing disparities in underserved communities
Kelsy Ketchum, 360Dx
Print
Not long after the start of COVID-19 pandemic, communities of color as well as underserved communities, in general, complained about their lack of access to testing.
More than a year later, some diagnostic companies say they are seeing a decline in COVID-19 testing as more tests are being made available. Yet for those in neighborhoods where access to tests were limited, challenges to getting a SARS-CoV-2 test remains.
To try to address this, the U.S. National Institutes of Health s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative has provided funding for projects that aim to implement ways to widen access to testing and fill in healthcare gaps for these communities.
BBC News
By Holly Honderich & Shrai Popat
BBC News, Washington
image captionWhite House press secretary Jen Psaki has said the administration would not support a federal certification system
As the pace of vaccination accelerates, governments, corporations and schools have signalled support for so-called vaccine passports - standardised proof of inoculation.
But in the US, the idea has been met with swift resistance. The government is not now nor will we be supporting a system that requires Americans to carry a credential, said White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday.
While mask mandates quickly became fodder for the culture wars, there s resistance to vaccine passports from all sides. Conservative leaders say they will resist any movement toward a vaccine pass, arguing it s an infringement of individual freedoms.