October 17-18, 2024
Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
at Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
The Center for Health Equity in Latin America (CHELA) hosted its first biennial meeting on Racism and Health in Latin America in October 2024 at the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, with leaders from Latin American public health schools and related fields. The objective of the two-day meeting was to promote teaching and research aimed at preventing racism in the provision of health care in the region from the perspective of Latin American social medicine. This region is known for its vast ethnic diversity and significant inequalities in health outcomes that often correlate with social and ethnic backgrounds. Structural and systemic racism, which permeates all social contexts in the region, manifests and reproduces itself extensively in health facilities, resulting in unsafe and disrespectful healthcare delivery, or even outright neglect. Such discrimination, compounded by the weathering effect of structural and systemic racism, leads to inequitable health outcomes among racialized population groups, such as indigenous, Afro-descendant, and migrant communities, compared to other population groups.
In response to this pressing public health problem, the meeting met the objectives of presenting and discussing evidence about the racist practices in healthcare delivery and its context in the region, examining how schools and public health programs can teach and conduct research to prevent racist practices with demonstrable results, and proposing the creation of a Pan American Diploma on the Prevention of Racism in Health Care. The organizing committee consisted of Drs. Eva Silvestre, Martha Silva, and Arachu Castro of the Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University.
Thursday, October 17 | Tidewater, Room 2414
By invitation. In Spanish.
- 8:30 Breakfast
- 9:00 Welcome remarks
Dr. Thomas LaVeist, Dean, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University - 9:05 Welcome remarks
Dr. Tomas Reese Director, Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University - 9:10 Introduction of each participant
- 9:15 Meeting objectives and rationale
Dr. Arachu Castro Professor and Samuel Z. Stone Chair of Public Health in Latin America, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University - 9:30 Conceptual Framework for the Analysis of Racism in Health Care
Dr. Martha Silva Assistant Professor, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University - 9:45 Coloniality, Racism, and Health: Notes on the Socio-Epidemiological Issue of the Black Population in Brazil
Dr. Roberta Gondim Sergio Arouca National School of Public Health, Fiocruz, Brazil - 10:15 Discussion
- 10:30 The Role of Users in Monitoring and Reducing Racism, Discrimination, and Exclusion in Health Services
Dr. Benilda Batzin Director, Center for the Study of Health Systems Equity and Governance, Guatemala - 11:00 Discussion
- 11:15 Pause
- 11:30 Intercultural Policies and Interventions as Strategies to Address Inequalities and Discrimination in Health
Dr. Ruth Iguiñiz Director, Center for Research and Action for Equity, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru - 12:00 Discussion
- 12:15 The Comprehensive Affirmative Approach to Addressing Practices of Racial Discrimination and Racism: A Look at the Field of Health in the Cuban Context
Dr. María del Carmen Zabala Professor, Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Havana, Cuba - 12:45 Discussion
- 1:00 Lunch
- 2:00 Preventing Racism through Public Health Education: Impact and Outcomes
Dr. Nenetzen Saavedra Deputy Director, National School of Public Health of Mexico, National Institute of Public Health - 2:30 Discussion
- 2:45 Health, Racism, and Health Education: A Costa Rican Approach
Dr. Rocío Sáenz, Director, Health Equity Network of the Americas, University of Costa Rica - 3:15 Discussion
- 3:30 Promoting Equity through the Articulation of Academia’s Substantive Functions
Dr. Aída Mencía-Ripley Vice-Rector for Research, Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE), Dominican Republic - 4:00 Discussion
- 4:15 Prevention of Racism through Public Health Education in the United States of America
Dr. Eva Silvestre Associate Professor and Vice Dean for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University - 4:45 Discussion
- 5:00 Closing of the first day
Friday, October 18 | Tidewater, Room 2414
By invitation. In Spanish.
- 9:00 Breakfast
- 9:30 Outline of a Pan-American Diploma on the Prevention of Racism in Health Care
Facilitated by Dr. Nenetzen Saavedra with all meeting participants Deputy Director, National School of Public Health of Mexico, National Institute of Public Health - 10:45 Pause
- 11:00 Discussion and preparation of a statement about the context of racism in health care in Latin America and the role of health sciences schools to prevent it
Dr. Arachu Castro Professor and Samuel Z. Stone Chair of Public Health in Latin America, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University - 1:00 Lunch
Friday, October 18 | Tidewater, Room 1204
In English. Public event.
2:30 Racism and Health in Latin America: Preventing Racism in Health Care
Facilitated by Dr. Arachu Castro with all meeting participants Professor and Samuel Z. Stone Chair of Public Health in Latin America, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University
3:30 Launch of Tulane University’s Center for Health Equity in Latin America (CHELA)
Dr. Eva Silvestre, in representation of Dr. Thomas LaVeist, Dean, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University
Dr. Tomas Reese Director, Stone Center for Latin American Studies, Tulane University
4:00 Closing
