Joel Hatungimana
The US performs notoriously poorly when compared to other countries in terms of healthcare outcomes, despite outspending them by 2x the GDP. How these healthcare outcomes breakdown in terms of race are also well documented. African Americans being among those performing the poorest. Problem: These statistics are snapshots of the present but ignore the underlying historical social underpinnings. Argument: Historically, the relationship between black bodies and medicine has been a fraught and painful one. Pseudoscience from the Antebellum period affects treatment of black bodies to this day. Socially, mass incarceration that disproportionately affects African Americans also puts them at risk for misuse by scientists. History and society then combine to create a difficult socioeconomic environment for African Americans that affects their access to healthcare. Solutions: To earn back the trust African Americans have the healthcare system needs to bring the biases of healthcare workers to the fore and provide frameworks that allow for biases to be removed from the decision-making process. Mass incarceration is its own problem, however ensuring that prisoners remain a protected class would continue to protect African Americans while the justice system is reformed. Lastly, Medicaid expansion would go a long way in reducing healthcare costs with are prohibitive in many instances. Conclusion: Understanding what we bring with us from history is incredibly important if we are going to fix the health disparities we see between African Americans and whites. Instead of waiting for reform to come from other places, with the exception of Medicare expansion these solutions can be implemented at local hospitals and create a massive ripple effect so that Black people are no longer dying of preventable causes.
Your presentation really incorporated the broad scope of issues that impact equity in healthcare. I am appreciative of your analysis of incarceration statistics, and how that impacts scientific studies completed with these individuals. Your ending message was quite poignant, especially in addressing the bias in healthcare providers. Understanding that a bias exists, and that it impacts care has to be acknowledged so that meaningful change can take place.
Thank you!. That is no doubt the first step. It is unfortunate that we are yet to get there. It is depressing that there is a lot of bias in the medical field concealed behind the curtain of “science”.
Outstanding presentation Joel. It was informative and professional. You provided excellent data and your case is persuasive. This is an important topic that you’ve tackled here. Well done.
Thank you!. Hopefully things will change soon.
Excellent job Joel! Taking a broad and deep look at social issues like you have done is the only way to find solutions. I especially appreciated the inclusion of history and the fact that these two seemingly unrelated issues (inequities in healthcare and mass incarceration) are in fact very much related.
What a joy to see two solid semesters of work on the topic come to fruition! Your honors seminar project was already excellent but this presentation took a topic dear to your heart to the next level! Your ability to bring together seemingly disparate problems and clearly show how they are connected is phenomenal. Well done!
Thinking about our class this semester, I wonder whether you think that further layers of that same problem include food production and distribution, urban planning, education and perhaps more areas?
Thank you! Tara. They undoubtedly are. It’s an unfortunate fact that most social issues tend to converge and create a bigger problem.
Thank you Anne!.I couldn’t have done it without your help.No doubt it does!. Most of these issues are no coincidence as we explored in our class this semester .There is a whole of bias that needs to be broken down. One can only hope for a better future .Until it happens being vocal about these issues will go a long way. Thank you again for highlighting these issues in both the HON100 and HON250 class.