Category: Resource Discussions

Link to the full article being reviewed.

“College students of color experience higher rates of mental illness yet tend not to seek help due to stigma and distrust of healthcare services”

It’s no secret that college students of color experience higher rates of mental illness, especially at predominantly white institutions (PWI). As a student of color myself, and as a first generation college student, my journey through college has not been easy. This article specifically reflects the ways in which college campuses time and time again have failed to provide mental health resources to their Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPoC) students. Students of color are more likely to experience racism, discrimination, Islamophobia, cyberbullying, verbal and physical assaults, and microagressions on college campuses all of which are damaging to their mental health. 

In order to fully support BIPoC college students, this article emphasizes how college campuses must recruit and retain diverse staff and faculty, develop and maintain cultural supports, and hire culturally competent mental health providers from diverse cultural backgrounds From personal experience I can say, having diverse faculty and staff can make students of color feel a sense of belonging. Having mental health/primary care providers that look like me have made me feel more at ease with accessing these services for myself, and my hope is that more and more college campuses instill these practices to diminish the mental health disparities seen among BIPoC students. 

Reviewed by: Laura Gonzalez Pineda

Link to the full article being reviewed.

As the United States passes into its third year amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become very apparent that there exists many long standing health inequities in the healthcare system. Nancy Kreiger, a professor of epidemiology at Harvard’s School of Public Health performs a Q&A with the New Yorker going into depth regarding the healthcare framework in the U.S. and how apparent it has become that large inequalities exist due to inequitable social structures within our communities. Although this Q&A was performed back towards the early stages of the pandemic, Kreiger’s commentary still holds true today with even greater evidence. Kreiger lists a variety of factors influencing the limited access to healthcare people of color as well underprivileged and underserved communities have. These groups of people are at a much higher risk for getting COVID. Furthermore, Kreiger then goes on to list a variety of steps that could be implemented to mitigate the existing disparities related to COVID-19, such as improving the conditions among individuals who are incarcerated, attending to the needs of homeless people, as well as educating people on how to practice safety measures, in multiple languages. This article provides an extensive overview of the faults within the healthcare system, making it an informative read for someone hoping to better understand health disparities that exist within the U.S.

Reviewed by: Marium Haq

“Some are rich and some are poor. Some are beautiful, some aren’t. Some are brilliant, some aren’t. But when we get sick—then, everybody is equal. Everybody must have equal right to the best medical treatment we can provide.”

With his brilliant, sweeping wit, T.R Reid tackles the enormous task of analyzing the American healthcare system with his New York Times bestseller The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. Reid expounds upon the healthcare system of six different countries (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, and India), and draws comparisons between these system models and that of the United States. Reid argues that the American system represents a patchwork of these other systems, depending on whether you’re a working adult, a retired person over 65, or someone who cannot afford insurance. Needless of your identity, he argues that the system fails our citizens and criticizes the fact that the current American model acts more as a market than a system.

I was first introduced to this book when its epilogue was assigned reading for my class INTL 340: Global Health & Development. Intrigued by Reid’s powerful claims, I decided to seek out this book at the library and read the rest of it. Reid’s arguments were so clearly organized and vocabulary was comprehensible enough that even a freshman with a background in biology (not the social sciences) was able to understand it. I think this is a great book for patients, healthcare administrators, and the healthcare professionals if you want to to get a better understanding of this complex and prevalent issue.

Reviewed by: Angelica Mejia