--by Linda Rae Murray, MD, MPH, President, American Public Health Association
April 4th was the forty-third anniversary of the day that the Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis. As we consider the challenges facing public health it is useful to remember the great contributions to social justice made by Dr. King who said;
“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions . Nothing pains people more than having to think.”
Health is a basic human right and means that the underlying social determinants of health must be organized based on social justice principles. Where this is not the case , as in the United States, it means that some people will be less healthy than others because of what zipcode they live in , the size of their paycheck, or the color of their skin. Health inequities result in tens of thousands of premature deaths each year in America. This is the fundamental problem facing public health in America. How can we end health inequities and create the conditions which will allow everyone to optimize their health ?
This requires hard thinking and actions on the part of public health. We must be willing to speak out and advocate for the conditions that create healthy people, healthy families, and healthy communities. State and local health departments continue to be buffeted by cuts, layoffs and furlough days. Optimizing health requires that our public health infrastructure be strengthened. It means we must fight for investments in social policies and conditions that promote healthy people and communities. This requires real universal medical insurance regardless of immigration status. It means advocating for adequate funding of our schools, for jobs with dignity, for supports for people facing hard times. During this Public Health Week, we would do well to remember Dr. King’s words, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
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