Racism drives health disparities in U.S.: report

Medical workers carry a patient to a hospital in New York, the United States, Dec. 13, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

There are persistent biases that label Black people as lazy and aggressive and make them less likely to receive appropriate health care.

NEW YORK, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Throughout American history, Black people have labeled them as inferior and not needing or worthy of appropriate care, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) reported Sunday, citing journalist and author Linda Villarosa.

Such ideas "have seeped into today's health systems, contributing to persistent biases that label Black people as lazy and aggressive and make them less likely to receive appropriate health care," Villarosa was quoted as saying.

"It's the long-standing idea that it was something about the Black body or something about Black culture that was causing poor health outcomes and racial disparities, that it was genetics -- in other words, that we were inferior in some ways to White people, whether it was a lack of education or high levels of poverty, with less interrogation of societal and institutional barriers," the former editor for Essence, a lifestyle magazine for Black women, told AAMC.

Villarosa has written about healthy habits and strove to live a healthy life herself, while encouraging other Black women to change their diets and exercise regimens to help combat health disparities, according to the report.