There Can Be No Health without Justice: Applauding President Biden’s Actions on Racial Equity

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a harsh spotlight on the systemic inequities and health disparities that we have long known existed in our national health care system. This is the other pandemic in our society. Despite decades of work to advance health equity, we have seen firsthand the way COVID-19 and underlying health conditions have disproportionately impacted communities of color. Even today, we must make sure that the vaccine distribution does not continue to leave these communities behind. This challenge demands our immediate attention, resources, and actions.

We also know that racial injustices that affect the health of racial minority populations is hardly limited to health care. Unaffordable housing, violence in our communities, and racism in policing and the criminal justice system prevents far too many people from being healthy. It denies the fundamental truth that health is a human right.

With a problem that is so overwhelming, it can be hard to know where to start. Recent actions by President Biden are a big step in the right direction. I strongly support the President’s actions to establish a COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, address climate change, and establish Executive Orders on affordable housing and policing and criminal justice reform. The President understands that there can be no health without justice, nor justice without health.