Several MPH students recently attended the joint CityMatCH Leadership & MCH Epidemiology Conference (September 17 – 19, 2014, in Phoenix, AZ) and were asked to share a few thoughts about their experiences. What follows is one of these reflections.
by Anne Fields, BA
Recently I was afforded the opportunity to travel with fellow students to Phoenix, Arizona for the CityMatCH Leadership and MCH Epidemiology Conference. Two of the main themes explored throughout the conference were place and race as they relate to health inequalities. In many ways, this is so evident in our world. We can think about the poorest places on earth, in the United States, or in New Orleans, and even within these places, inequalities are still stratified by race. As we climb up the totem pole, the trend will continue. People of color are consistently missing out on their share of the pie. Yet, it is through the incorporation of the inequalities by place that we can see clearly this is not the result of poor genetics, lack of worth, or bootstraps, or any other excuse made to deny the racism that still exists right now. These inequalities are a result of the environment and the system into which one is born. Otherwise, place stratification would not occur. If it were as simple as genetics, then it would not matter where you lived. Those conditions would not drastically impact your health. But they do.
Unfortunately the systems we have in place to remedy these health inequalities are failing. Why? Another hot topic at this year’s conference was the life course. Instead of thinking about health as the moment when an individual reaches a breaking point, gets sick, and thus enters the health care system, we have to consider what is happening over the entire lifetime that led to that breaking moment. We have to think about fixing the problems before they even begin. We have to look at the root causes. We have to look at why the teenager is engaging in risky sexual behaviors rather than why they are pregnant.
I recently attended a training for mental health professionals interested in learning about and assisting with the influx of unaccompanied minors to New Orleans. In the past year, at least 1,300 unaccompanied children immigrants have arrived in Louisiana. The majority of these children are from Honduras, as well as El Salvador and Guatemala. They are fleeing gang violence. Honduras currently has the highest murder rate in the world. However, these children are being denied their human rights as asylum seekers because the United States conveniently has not created a policy to grant asylum to those that are not fleeing “an identified political regime.” They are placed in detention centers that are referred to as “ice boxes” because they are intentionally kept so cold so that other children en camino will hear and not want to come. Children are forced to stand up for days on end. Children are dying of hypothermia and left on the floor among the other children. Yes, this is holocaust–esque and, yes, this is happening right now in the United States. These children have been raped, seen their siblings and friends raped, seen murder, seen other children eaten by coyotes, and experienced such horrific things that I cannot even imagine having lived through. The idea that place and race are not at play here is ludicrous. The idea that it is somehow their responsibility, not ours, is also ludicrous.
While much of this information is extremely overwhelming, and leaves one feeling like a really, really small fish in the middle of the ocean, simple, small steps and local movements were reiterated throughout the conference. The fact that a room full of public health professionals simply acknowledged race as an ever-present issue in our society is a step. The fact that there was a training of local members and allies of the Latino community is a step. The fact that you are reading a blog about MCH is a step. We have to sweat the small stuff in order to achieve real change.
Anne Fields is a second-year dual-degree MSW/MPH student, concentrating in Maternal and Child Health. She plans to graduate in August 2015. Her interests include adolescent health, sexual health, behavioral health integration, and immigrant populations. She also loves running, yoga, and cooking.
