health disparities

Obstetric racism. Those words hung in the air during the EQTY 2023: A Summit for Health Justice Conference held in Boston last month. At the time, a panel of doctors and community activists addressed critical questions related to “Equity in Pregnancy.”

Health care institutions have a collective responsibility to address disparities among vulnerable Black and brown people, but the institutions have been mired in a lack of cohesion and sustained progress and have made little dent in eradicating health care inequities.

A new study from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, which surveyed members of the Greater Boston Puerto Rican community at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and one year in, found that community members who spoke less English in their day-to-day lives were more likely to report testing positive for the virus.