Racism, health and healthcare

The international empirical evidence which exists exposing the relationship between racism and health is compelling. Interpersonal racism directly affects mortality and a wide range of physical and mental health conditions and health‐related behavior for both children and adults. Racism also has indirect health effects: as a consequence of institutional racism people from most ethnic minority groups live their lives at a socioeconomic disadvantage relative to other groups, which in turn affects their health and well‐being. Racism influences people's interactions with health services, both as a consequence of the ways in which the attitudes of health care providers affect the diagnosis and care of people with different ethnicities and also due to the impact that experiences of institutional racism (in health care and other settings) have on people's willingness to seek preventive or curative care. Achieving ethnic health equity demands that we address the impact of racism on health