Public health experts are pushing to reduce smoking and vaping in communities of color as part of an effort to reduce risk factors for COVID-19. The president of the American Medical Association told WABE’s Morning Edition this national focus on health disparities is late, but not too late.
“Clearly we have not done what we needed to do to address these health inequities,” Dr. Patrice Harris said.
Smoking can cause underlying health conditions like heart and lung disease and diabetes. But many African Americans and other people of color who happened to smoke already suffer from one or both of those underlying health conditions. And a recent Morehouse School of Medicine study found that Georgia counties with higher percentages of African Americans also have higher COVID-19 rates.
Harris said the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted what happens to communities affected by decades of structural racism and lack of access to healthcare, but the problems aren’t new.
“We need to make sure that we don’t blame people in this as we’re having these conversations,” she said. “Certainly, there are decades of structural racism and other structural determinants of health, such as access to transportation and access to health care.”
