Allegheny County may brand racism as health crisis
By JEFF STITT
jstitt@yourmvi.com
Allegheny County Council is expected to vote today on a motion that would recognize racism as a public health crisis.
An attachment to the motion, introduced by District 10 Councilman DeWitt Walton and at-large Councilwoman Bethany Hallam, is available to view on the council’s website and states that “more than 100 studies have linked racism to worse health outcomes.”
“Racism causes persistent racial discrimination in housing, education, employment and criminal justice; and an emerging body of research demonstrates that racism is a social determinant of health,” the motion states, adding that racism is a social system that also impacts educational opportunities, first responder services, commercial contracts, individual job offers and more.
The motion cites “Pittsburgh’s Inequality Across Gender and Race,” a 2019 study by the University of Pittsburgh. It found that “for Pittsburgh’s black women, 18 out of every 1,000 pregnancies end in a fetal death,” compared to only nine out of every 1,000 white pregnancies.
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