599 - Book Club—"Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and the Health of Our Nation" with Linda Villarosa
Public Health On Call
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
4.6 • 644 Ratings
🗓️ 12 April 2023
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week is Black Maternal Health Week in the US and to kick off the conversation, Dr. Josh Sharfstein speaks with author and New York Times contributor Linda Villarosa about her new book on racism and health. They discuss how she came to this topic after her years being a health editor at Essence magazine and why the picture is particularly stark for the health of Black women and their infants. They also talk about why she's optimistic about the health of Black people and how personal stories are helping to create societal change. You can read her article on maternal mortality mentioned in the podcast here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Public Health On Call, a podcast from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, |
| 0:05.9 | where we bring evidence, experience, and perspective to make sense of today's leading health challenges. |
| 0:16.3 | If you have questions or ideas for us, please send an email to public health question at jh.h.edu. |
| 0:23.8 | That's public health question at jhhu.edu for future podcast episodes. |
| 0:31.8 | This is Lindsay Smith Rogers. |
| 0:33.9 | Today, Dr. Josh Jorfstein speaks to Linda Villarosa, a contributing writer at the New York Times |
| 0:39.0 | magazine and the author of an award-winning book on racism and health. They discuss the reasons |
| 0:43.8 | why black Americans have experienced and still experience elevated rates of death at every age. |
| 0:50.5 | This conversation is being released during Black Maternal Health Week in the United States. |
| 0:54.5 | In our next episode, Dr. Rachel Berville, an MPH student at the Bloomberg School, and producer |
| 1:00.6 | Annalise Winnie dig into why black women and their babies are particularly at risk of dying. |
| 1:06.7 | Let's listen. |
| 1:08.7 | Linda Villarosa, thank you very much for joining me on Public Health on Call. |
| 1:13.9 | I'm very excited for this discussion. |
| 1:16.0 | I read your tremendous book, Under the Skin, The Hidden Tull of Racism on American Lives |
| 1:21.9 | and on the Health of Our Nation. |
| 1:23.8 | I want to start with a basic question. |
| 1:26.4 | What drew you into this topic? |
| 1:29.1 | Well, I was the health editor of Essence magazine back in the late 80s and early 90s and was |
| 1:36.0 | really shocked by the racial health disparities. |
| 1:38.3 | And there's never been a time in America where black outcomes have equaled white health |
| 1:43.6 | outcomes or even been close, that gap |
... |
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