How racism affects health: A new social determinants of health curriculum

Just Health Action (JHA) advocates for reducing health inequities that result from social, political, and economic factors (social determinants of health). Using a social justice lens, JHA teaches workshops and classes that reviews the evidence and then facilitates discussion and consensus on how individuals and communities can take action on these root causes. JHA has developed a four part health action framework that teaches students: 1. Knowledge: underlying causes of health inequities; 2. Advocacy: elements needed to become an effective advocate for social change; 3. Skills: advocacy strategies; 4. Action: reaching consensus on an action and implementing it. Using this framework, JHA has taught several social determinants of health topics including employment, global health, housing/homelessness, environmental justice, gang violence, HIV/AIDS, obesity, transportation, immigration, and income inequality. This presentation describes the development and teaching of a new curriculum on how racism affects health. Although racism and discrimination is implicitly discussed in our classes, until now, JHA has never explicitly addressed racism as one of the most significant determinants of health. Our new curriculum examines how race is defined, the racism/health evidence, the different models used to explain racial health inequalities, and how racism is embodied in biological well-being. The curriculum was developed and piloted at both the adult and high school level. The high school program culminates with student consensus on an action plan to address racism and health issues. We describe our curriculum, the action taken, curriculum challenges and successes, as well as the results of our evaluation.