Health Behavior and Health Equity Results

Structural Racism Is Not an Exemption from Accountability

In February 2021, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) tweeted, “No physician is racist, so how can there be structural racism in health care?” The tweet was designed to promote a podcast that was ostensibly focused on structural racism yet did not include experts on the topic. The subsequent uproar highlighted the harm caused by deep intentional ignorance of the term structural racism, defined in the American Journal of Public Health as “policies and practices…that confer advantages on people considered White and ideologies that maintain these advantages, while simultaneously oppressing other racialized groups.”

Faculty Team Hopes to Galvanize Anti-Racism in Public Health Education

As public health faculty passionate about health equity, Melissa Creary and Paul Fleming have spent their careers observing the ways in which racism creates barriers to health for communities. Now, the pair are laying plans to make an impact on public health education through anti-racist teaching, beginning in their own backyard.

How Countries on Five Continents Responded to the Pandemic, Helping Shape Future of Health Policy

Michigan Public Health professors Scott Greer and Elizabeth King and colleagues in Brazil analyzed early government responses from 34 countries on five continents to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic and how those decisions impacted their citizens’ health and lives.

Online Tools, Community Health Resource Guidance Could Help Older Adults Self-Manage Pain

New research from Mary Janevic

Providing older adults with mobile health tools and the support of community health workers to help navigate local resources could help them better manage their pain, say University of Michigan researchers.

LGBTQ+ People in Kenya Urgently Need Mental Health Support

New research from Gary Harper

There's an urgent need for culturally appropriate mental and physical health services for sexual and gender minorities in Kenya, says a University of Michigan School of Public Health researcher Gary Harper.

Research Looks at Intervention Methods for Youth Living with HIV

New research from Rivet Amico

Over a million teenagers and young adults in the US live with HIV, and they make up over 20% of all new HIV diagnoses each year. We spoke with Rivet Amico, associate professor of Health Behavior and Health Education, to learn more about a study she is leading to improve health and well-being among youth living with HIV.