This week, On Point with Juandolyn Stokes welcomed Dr. Dominic Hugo Mack, Director of the Morehouse School of Medicine National Center for Primary Care. Dr. Mack discussed the COVID 19 resiliency disproportionately impacts minorities like Blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians, and especially those with developmental disabilities.
Those with high incidence of chronic diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure lack the access to healthcare they need making the systems inequitable. Other contributing factors in these communities are lifestyle like drinking alcohol, smoking, living in polluted areas, or gun violence.
According to Dr. Mack, the Morehouse School of Medicine has worked on developing programs and research that addresses the inequities in healthcare.
The mortality rate in Blacks and Hispanics increased during COVID because "we did not take care of ourselves," said Dr. Mack. He added children are included in this equation because their childhood vaccinations rates also dropped off during COVID which caused an uptick in measles cases.
