"The State of Black America and COVID-19" Details Health Care Inequities in Black Community During Pandemic
Black Coalition Against COVID (BCAC), Including Morehouse School of Medicine, Outlines How Existing Health Equity Problems Have Intensified.
ATLANTA – MARCH 29, 2022 – Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) and its fellow members of the Black Coalition Against COVID (BCAC) today released The State of Black America and COVID-19, a groundbreaking report that details health disparities that have persisted and intensified during the coronavirus pandemic.
The research focuses on how longstanding inequalities that Black Americans have experienced in terms of health care access, quality, and affordability have increased over the past two years, leading to higher-than-average rates of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths in Black communities. The report was commissioned in January 2022 as Black Americans were hospitalized for COVID-19 at the highest rate since the pandemic began.
"We hope to bring attention to the continued burden of COVID-19 in the Black community, even as we as a nation have made incredible progress overall. Even as we celebrate achievements towards COVID-19 equity, we know there is more work to do," Marcella Nunez-Smith MD, MHS, chair of the Presidential COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, wrote the report's forward. "As we reflect on two years of lived experience and myriad data sources, we know
COVID-19’s toll on Black Americans is ongoing. This report draws attention to the continued disproportionate burden experienced by members of the Black community and will help guide advocacy and policy efforts to address these inequities — both during the current pandemic and beyond."
The BCAC was formed in early 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading quickly across the United States and the world. It unites the national leadership of Morehouse School of Medicine; Howard University; Meharry Medical College; Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science; the National Medical Association; the W. Montague Cobb Institute of the NMA; the National Black Nurses Association; the National Urban League; and BlackDoctor.org. In addition, this coalition of health advocates and institutions regularly coordinates their work with partners from the faith community such as Choose Healthy Life and The Values Partnership, in addition to Black fraternal, sorority, and civic philanthropic organizations such as The Links, Incorporated.
Click below to read or download the entire report.