The struggle for equitable health outcomes in communities of color, but especially for Black women, continues today. The COVID-19 public health crisis has laid bare, once again, that Latinx and Black communities in New York and beyond are disproportionately affected by a lack of access to an adequate healthcare system that protects and serves them.

Redlining, a policy that was adopted by most major cities across the U.S. from the 1930s onwards meant that neighborhoods that were home to residents of color were starved of the city’s resources and essential services. Today, as a result, we see that parts of the city that were historically heavily redlined have worse health outcomes for its residents. Latinx and Black communities suffer from higher mortality, morbidity, and maternal mortality rates. In adults, these conditions can present as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sickle-cell anemia, and asthma. And the rates of these conditions are much higher compared to rates among white New Yorkers.

 

Today Bronx Health REACH, South Bronx Unite, Hunts Point Cooperative Market, and the Bronx Community Research Review Board (co-led by Dr. Monique Guishard, Social Sciences, BCC) are just some of the organizations in the borough addressing issues in health, housing, food, and environmental justice.

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Danielle Pasquel, “Health Disparities and Environmental Justice in the Bronx,” The EJBM Blog