Teaching of the Black Population’s Health: Anti-Racist Lenses for a Paradigm Shift to Address Racial Inequities

Abstract

Health (and its dialectical pair—illness) is determined by multiple factors: social class, educational background, income, occupation, and race/skin color. Racism can directly impact physical and psychological illnesses, with an effect on social conditions of health. This paper discusses: (1) racism as a root cause of health inequities in Brazil and elsewhere, and (2) how students at the University of Brasilia School of Medicine respond to an anti-racist curriculum. We emphasize that an environment of profound exchanges in the teaching–learning process, adopting anti-racism praxis as a competency in the medical curriculum, is a paradigm shift in medical education and future practice.

Association between history of academic failure during dental school and self‐reported depression, anxiety, and stress: A retrospective cohort

“…The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics defines skin color with the following categorizations: white, black, brown, yellow, and indigenous. In Brazil, poorer health outcomes (mainly higher mortality 16,17 and non‐communicable chronic diseases 18,19 ) and higher inequalities are associated with non‐white individuals 20,21 . It is important to highlight that only 35 non‐white individuals were included in the present study, 12 black and 23 brown.…”

“…In Brazil, poorer health outcomes (mainly higher mortality 16,17 and noncommunicable chronic diseases 18,19 ) and higher inequalities are associated with non-white individuals. 20,21 It is important to highlight that only 35 non-white individuals were included in the present study, 12 black and 23 brown. The independent variables were age (in years); sex (male or female); skin color (white or non-white [including those who reported as black, brown, yellow, or indigenous]); regular physical activity (yes or no); monthly family income (in thousand reais); sexual orientation (heterosexual or other [including those who identified as lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, two-spirit, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, nonbinary, gender nonconforming, or non-heteronormative, commonly abbreviated as LGBTQIA+]); remunerative work (yes [which included a formal job or a paid scholarship] or no); use of alcohol, cigarettes, or illicit drugs (yes or no); dentistry as the first choice for undergraduate study (yes or no); the DASS-21 scale domains of depression, anxiety, and stress (categorized as normal/mild, moderate, or at least severe); and the question related to COVID-19 (yes or no [which included those who answered "no" or "unaware"]).…”

“…15 In Brazil, research has reported that non-white individuals (which include those who are black, brown, yellow, or indigenous) experience both higher mortality rates and poorer health. [16][17][18][19] Therefore, skin color is considered an important proxy of inequalities in the country, 20,21 which may have several impacts on the academic performance of dental students.…”