A Note from MA Asthma Action Partnership
/Dear MAAP members,
In the midst of a global pandemic that disproportionately and unfairly targets Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), there has been a broad, national reckoning over racism and police violence following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others. The demonstrations and actions taking place across the country and around the world demand justice for those most harmed by police brutality and other forms of structural racism set in motion centuries ago.
In the aftermath of these killings, racism has been spotlighted as a widespread public health crisis that continues to poison the institutions and systems that are meant to keep us safe and healthy. We see its effects in the inequitable health outcomes across communities of color who live in neighborhoods with poor housing quality and high housing insecurity; go to school in buildings that decay and crumble around them; struggle to obtain care at underfunded community health centers; and live in environments that only grow warmer and more polluted. We at MAAP recognize that both asthma and COVID-19 further expose and aggravate these pre-existing inequities: in the United States, racism is an underlying condition for Covid-19 infections and deaths, and asthma disproportionately burdens our communities of color[1,2].
As we all strive to care for and protect those most vulnerable to the impacts of this layered crisis, we are reminded that advancing health equity and dismantling racist structures is difficult work. Together with our partners, we at MAAP pledge to deepen our efforts to address the social and environmental inequities that exacerbate asthma, especially in communities of color. We stay committed to amplifying and working on equitable strategies for the prevention and management of asthma. And we stand in support of the many organizations and individuals across Massachusetts that lead the fight for racial and economic justice for our communities every single day.
Let us not leap to peace before getting to justice. Now, more than ever, in our schools, homes, and workplaces, our needs must be addressed not by the threat of violence, but by the provision of care.
The following are the words and commitments from Health Resources in Action (HRIA), which coordinates MAAP, and from other MAAP partners over the past weeks:
· Health Resources in Action (HRiA)
· Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH)
· Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (PHIWM)
[1] https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2018/07/19/asthma-data-bulletin.pdf