F E AT UR E D A RT ICL E
The American Medical Association’s Commitment to Health Justice in the United States
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n the short span of three months, COVID-19 and police brutality are illuminating, for many previously unaware, profound and historical inequities
in the U.S.
n BY ALETHA MAYBANK, MD, MPH
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MicroCap Review Magazine
According to recent figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Blacks and Latinx have COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates approximately 5 and 4 times that of Whites. Statistics also show the rate of fatal police shootings among Black Americans is much higher than that of any other race. As a recent study points out, 1 in 1000 Black men are killed by law enforcement per year in the U.S. — more than twice the rate of Whites. So while the country is reeling, it is also revealing something more foundational to the inequity crisis: America’s problem with racism and a lack of understanding of the impacts that racism has on health. In June, the American Medical Association Board of Trustees issued one of its most powerful pledges: “…racism in its systemic, structural, institutional, and interpersonal forms is an urgent threat to public health, the advancement of health equity, and a barrier to excellence in the delivery of medical care … The AMA will actively work to dismantle racist and discriminatory policies and practices across all of health care,” said the AMA’s statement. It is within this void that the AMA’s Center for Health Equity prioritizes its efforts.
As AMA’s inaugural chief health equity officer, I lead this charge with great seriousness, honor and enthusiasm. I am committed to ensuring our nation is one where all people live in thriving communities; where resources are distributed fairly; where structures and systems are equitable; and where everyone has the power to achieve optimal health. The Center, now a year old, demonstrates AMA’s commitment to embed equity in all of its work, especially in light of its own past that caused harm —such as excluding Black physicians from AMA membership, resulting in denials of hospital privileges — and contributed to inequities that persist today, such as the lack of Blacks in the physician workforce. This work of equity and dismantling racism demands intentional focus and resources at the institutional and societal levels. It demands that we who work in and for systems — health, financial, education, housing, etc. — understand how our work has historically produced inequities and potentially created harm. This demands collective and individual root-cause analysis of many assumptions that work to undermine equity. In the U.S., health inequities (injustices)
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