What determines health? That question drives all our work, and while we’ve observed a lot of progress in untangling the many answers to that question, we have very few tools for measuring different health effects.
At an April 11 press conference, Surgeon General Jerome Adams acknowledged that people of color are disproportionately affected by COVID-19. For example, African Americans comprise 25% of the population of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin but nearly half of confirmed cases and three-quarters of the deaths. Latinos represent one-third of the population of New York City but
Continue Reading “Social determinants, racism, and COVID-19”
This post, by Austin Frakt, originally appeared on The Incidental Economist on April 2, 2020. I don’t have time for a fully formed post or column on this, but I want to make note of a few ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic is intersecting with drivers of health (which include social determinants and health system
The risks to health faced by Americans long ago are different from those we face today. Some of the things that once killed many people (like poor sanitation) now kill many fewer. On the other hand, we now face new risks (like death from auto accidents) that didn’t exist a century ago.
The causal pathways from social determinants of health to health outcomes can be numerous and complex. Though some factors (like smoking) are directly related to health, others (like education or income) relate to health in a variety of indirect ways.
