Washington, D.C. – On Friday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) reported that a new study of Afro-descendant populations in 18 Latin American countries revealed that they "live with dramatically unequal social and economic conditions that damage health".
Afro-Colombian children displaced from their rural homes, find refuge near the city of Buenaventura. UNHCR/B. HegerThe study that was reported, “Health of Afro-descendant People in Latin America,” concluded that in more than 80% of the 18 countries that were looked at, Afro-descendants live with "a broad range of disadvantages related to poverty, employment, maternal and child health, and lack of access to adequate housing and basic services, such as safe water and sanitation."
PAHO Director Carissa F. Etienne said that these inequities are occurring "...in the context of discrimination and institutional racism, often exacerbated by gender inequalities.” She continued, "they are manifested from the first years of life, and accumulated health risks increase with age, producing significant differences in the levels of mortality and life expectancy."
She also indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has further "exposed and exacerbated" the health inequities that these communities are experiencing.
The report, which examined data on socio-economic indicators, emphasized that limited access to health care for Afro-descendant communities causes “high maternal mortality rates, early pregnancy, and epidemiological profiles in which sickle cell disease, chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, and HIV prevail.”
With 134 million people identifying themselves as Afro-descendants in Latin America, the report found that in many countries the disadvantages are glaring. For instance, the maternal mortality rate for Afro-descendant women in Ecuador is triple the overall maternal mortality rate. In Colombia the rate for Afro-descendent women is 1.8 times higher, and in Brazil 36% higher. In Uruguay, the 42% of Afro-descendants that have limited access to drinking water is almost double that of non-Afro-descendants, 24%. In urban areas in Nicaragua, 81% of Afro-descendants have limited access to water compared to 35% of non-Afro-descendants.
Costa Rican First Vice President Espy Campbell Barr put it plainly during the launch event for the study, "We are living in a context of systemic racism against Afro-descendants,” She clarified this with “by systemic, I mean that it is enclosed within the political, economic, social, and cultural system and that, as a result, health is incorporated in that reality of racial exclusion of Afro-descendant people and of course indigenous peoples."
La Celia A. Prince, Chief of Staff of the Assistant Secretary General of the OAS, said, “While people in situations of vulnerability such as Afro-descendants still face invisibility and exclusion, while they still live in poverty and are not able to access universal health coverage, the achievement of the (United Nations) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will remain out of our reach."
The report recommended improving public health policies for Afro-descendants by incorporating “specific knowledge and ancestral practices of Afro-descendant people, respect for their autonomy, culture and customs, and the creation of participatory scenarios conducive to equal opportunities for all.”
