Racism is a
public health crisis.

The Health Equity Action Lab unequivocally stands against individual, institutional, and structural racism.

Black lives matter.

In our own field of infectious disease epidemiology, there is a temptation to view the world in binary terms:  human versus pathogen.  Often, the research community focuses so heavily on biomedical tools like vaccines and antivirals that we lose sight of the real world socio-political contexts in which outbreaks occur. 

However, epidemics are never equitable. 

We cannot begin to understand or to address the disproportionate burden of infectious diseases on historically oppressed communities without first confronting white supremacy and recognizing how racism shapes underlying health, exposure risks, and access to high-quality care. 

Indeed, to be most effective, public health solutions must meet inequities head-on:  first, identifying disparities and, then, making policy changes that will tangibly dismantle the systems of injustice underlying them.