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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Molly Louise Robertson, MA, Department of Anthropology/School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington/Brown University, PO Box 642, Bothell, WA 98041 and Sara Wood, MPH, International Health Program, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Washington, 2016 NE 65th St. Ste. C, Seattle, WA 98115, 000-000-0000, sarawood_2000@yahoo.com.

Race has once again become a hot topic in public health. From genetic mapping to race-specific drugs there is an increased emphasis on racial identification and racial targeting of policy and care. While some benefit may be gained from the focus on racially marginalized groups there are also devastating consequences. The analysis of one-hundred interviews with patients and providers in maternal hospitals in Brazil show how racial stereotypes that exist at an almost subconscious level gain new power through arguments that tie the subjective assessment of race to the idea of concrete biological race, contributing to increased rate of maternal mortality. The stripping of the power of Afro-Brazilian women to make informed decisions and a priori assumptions of their desires by providers are strikingly similar to findings on health inequalities in the U.S. The re-enforcement of societal stereotypes of ignorance, combativeness, and paternalistic care are most devastating in health care services where both the patients and the providers succumb to the assumptions of biological race, changing their health seeking behavior and care provision in accordance. Indeed, health inequalities, so often similar between Brazil and the United States, have stronger roots in unequal care than in the biology they profess to measure.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Articulate the complexities of social and biological definitions of race;
• Recognize the importance of qualitative methods in assessing health disparities.

Keywords: Health Disparities, Human Rights

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Recorded presentation