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Threats to Affirmative Action Are Threats to Health

Policy Date: 1/1/1996
Policy Number: 9612

The American Public Health Association,
Observing that poverty is a risk factor for increased mortality and morbidity from numerous causes;1 and
Noting that racial differences in health status have persisted for decades in spite of efforts to correct them;2-7 and
Believing that institutional racism has been an important contributor to racial disparities in health and economic status as well as a barrier to their elimination;8 and
Believing that affirmative action policies and programs strengthen, rather than weaken, the fabric of US life; and
Seeing evidence from its own organizational experience as well as from other institutions, including the federal government, that affirmative action can recruit minority group members into health occupations;9 and
Believing that increased participation in the health sector can not only increase the economic well-being of minorities but also increase the availability and accessibility of health services to minority communities; and
Noting that the recent Commonwealth Fund survey confirms minorities' poor access to health care, lack of means to pay for health care, and lack of choice in health care out of proportion to that of the White population of the United States;10 and
Noting that APHA has set forth principles for a national comprehensive health program to assure universal access and coverage to all persons and promote training of health workers of diverse backgrounds;11 and
Noting with alarm the recent passage of Proposition 209 in California and Supreme Court decisions that limit the reach of governmental programs intended to remedy economic inequity through affirmative action12 as well as the University of California Board of Regents' policy change to end affirmative action programs in the nation's largest state university system;13 and
Noting that the principal 1995 decision in Texas14 on affirmative action (e.g., contract preferences for minorities) is subject to strict scrutiny and is unlikely to be upheld except in narrow circumstances; and
Noting the growing diversity of the US population and the need to have a public health and health professional work force that reflects this growing diversity; therefore
1. Reconfirms its judgment that racism and its consequences are dangerous to health;
2. Calls on the Congress to support and monitor governmental and other affirmative action programs that are intended to remedy historical inequities among racial groups due to racism;
3. Calls on the Congress to enact a universal, comprehensive national health program that meets the principles previously set forth by the APHA that would assure equal access to persons of all races and economic conditions and promote training of health workers of diverse backgrounds;
4. Urges the US Department of Health and Human Services to adopt health objectives that would narrow and eventually eliminate the gap in health status among racial groups and to propose a concrete health, social, and economic program to achieve these objectives;
5. Calls on the Department of Health and Human Services to research the impact of affirmative action or the lack thereof on the public health work force and the practice of public health; and
6. Urges the Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services to launch programs that expand the academic, intellectual, and experiential bases of minorities seeking opportunities in education and employment.

References


  1. Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives. Washington, DC: US Dept of Health and Human Services; 1990. DHHS publication (PHS) 91-50212.

  2. American Public Health Association Position Paper No. 6811: Health and Poverty. APHA Policy Statements, 1948 to Present, Cumulative. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; current volume.

  3. American Public Health Association Position Paper No. 8529: Preventing Low Birthweight. APHA Policy Statements, 1948 to Present, Cumulative. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; current volume.

  4. American Public Health Association Resolution No. 9101: Childhood Asthma: A Major Public Health Problem. APHA Policy Statements, 1948 to Present, Cumulative. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; current volume.

  5. American Public Health Association Resolution No. 9105: Cervical and Breast Screening. APHA Policy Statements, 1948 to Present, Cumulative. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; current volume.

  6. American Public Health Association Resolution No. 9120: Poverty and Public Health. APHA Policy Statements, 1948 to Present, Cumulative. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; current volume.

  7. American Public Health Association Resolution No. 9207: Underscoring the Continued Need for a Sustained National HIV Prevention and Public Education Initiative. APHA Policy Statements, 1948 to Present, Cumulative. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; current volume.

  8. American Public Health Association. Principles of Social Welfare Policy. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 1993.

  9. USPHS Commissioned Corps affirmative action report cited in APHA Executive Board agenda item 8.02, July 9-10, 1990.

  10. The Nation's Health. April, 1995.

  11. National Health Program for All of Us. The American Public Health Association Guide to the Health Care Reform Debate. Washington, DC: American Public Health Association; 1993.

  12. Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 115 S Ct 2097 (1995).

  13. Detroit News and Free Press, July 22, 1995; p. 1.

  14. Hopwood v. Texas, 78 F3d 932 (5th Cir 1996).


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