Health News Roundup

Can being black be hazardous to your health and more in this week’s roundup

Health equity

Being black in America can be hazardous to your health
Olga Khazan, The Atlantic, July/August Issue 2018
In Baltimore and other segregated cities, the life-expectancy gap between African Americans and whites is as much as 20 years. One young woman’s struggle shows why. Read Kiarra Boulware’s story.

Infographic: Creating a clearer path to better health
Connecticut Health Foundation, June 7
For many people, the path to better health is clear – they just have to take the necessary steps forward. For many, particularly people of color, there are more hurdles along the path that can make it harder to get and stay healthy. Check out our new infographic to learn more.

public health

The end of AIDS: Far from over
William Brangham, Jason Kane, Jon Cohen, PBS and Science Magazine, June 15
The tools exist. HIV/AIDS can be treated and contained. But in many communities, social, political and economic obstacles get in the way. There, the epidemic is far from over. Russia, Nigeria, Florida: Though vast distances apart, at-risk communities in these three places face surprisingly similar challenges. Access to consistent HIV treatment is often limited, social stigma results in isolation, and the government response is slow.

Race

Podcast: All the caffeine in the world doesn’t make you woke
Kelefa Sanneh, This American Life, June 8
Following the national outcry in response to the arrest of two black men at a Philadelphia Starbucks in April, the company shut all of its U.S. stores on May 29 to conduct racial sensitivity training. For this episode of This American Life, the New Yorker’s Kelefa Sanneh sat in on one of the sessions.

Connecticut

Connecticut takes small step toward supporting maternal mortality review
Christine Stuart, CT News Junkie, June 13
In Connecticut, there were eight pregnancy-related deaths from 2011 to 2014. But there’s no data available yet for the years since 2014 and at the moment there are precious few dollars devoted to accessing it. This week Governor Malloy signed a bill into law that would establish a Maternal Mortality Review Program within the state Department of Public Health to conduct a comprehensive, multidisciplinary review of maternal deaths. But part of getting at the problem of maternal death and making recommendations about how to prevent it involves data collection and analysis.