Policy Brief

As the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative has shown through our prior cancer research, when system-level changes designed to address racism in healthcare are implemented effectively, we not only resolve racial inequities but we improve outcomes for all patients (Cykert et al., 2020). Our successful approach to resolving inequities in cancer treatment completion relied on the principles of accountability and transparency applied to system-level policy change using an antiracism analysis of power and authority. We have previously written about the potential transferability of this approach to other health outcomes and systems, including pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality, as well as K-12 educational outcomes (Baker et al., 2021). This brief explores opportunities to apply those same principles in the context of environmental racism and illuminates policy changes that could mitigate racial inequities in asthma among North Carolinians, particularly children.