Story at a glance
- Racism and Health, an agency-wide initiative revealed Thursday, is the CDC’s effort to address a litany of lasting historic issues.
- “The word racism is intentional in this [initiative] for the CDC.”
- “It has to be baked into the cake; it’s got to be part of what everybody is doing.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky is unveiling a new initiative that aims to address the ways race is tied to public health amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Racism and Health, an agency-wide initiative revealed Thursday, is the CDC’s effort to address a litany of lasting historic issues that have contributed to the devastating effects the pandemic has dealt to communities of color. The intersection of race and health will be displayed with the might of the CDC on the agency’s website, which could serve to inform the public on the agency’s actions to stomp out inequalities in healthcare, Time reported.
Walensky said in an interview with Time that she takes race seriously and that she has been consistent in affirming her belief that it is a legitimate and “serious public health threat.”
“The word racism is intentional in this [initiative] for the CDC,” Walensky said. “This is not just about the color of your skin but also about where you live, where you work, where your children play, where you pray, how you get to work, the jobs you have. All of these things feed into people’s health and their opportunities for health.”
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The CDC has made attempts like this before when, in the 1980s, it established the Office of Minority Health & Health Equity. Leandris Liburd, associate director of the office, has been there from the beginning, and she told Time she believes the agency has made strides. Yet she argues the agency still lacks in critical areas. Liburd said the new initiative could now have the capacity to fully address the issues in health equity.
“There has been a lot of documenting the problem,” Walensky said. “I want to start thinking about…how we can intervene to solve the problem. Not all of them will be successful but I’d really like to think about how we can start looking at interventions that make a difference.”
Walensky said that rectifying health inequities will be a challenge that takes action and a concerted effort on the part of the entire agency, Time reported.
“It has to be baked into the cake; it’s got to be part of what everybody is doing,” Walensky said.
Walensky also expressed hope that the vaccine rollout could open doors within communities to address serious lapses in preventive medical care that might have been missed due to a lack of resources and access.
“Now is the time because there is attention drawn to it, and resources drawn to it,” Walensky said.
“We are making a concerted national effort to reach those who have not been reached because we are making ties to local folks and trusted messengers. I just really want to make sure that as long as we are doing that effort, and reaching people where they are, that we do so in a way that will allow us to not only vaccinate them for COVID-19 today but vaccinate their children for any missed immunizations and treat their blood pressure and screen them for cancer and do all the things that have been long neglected because they lacked access.”
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