Just Health - by Dayna Bowen Matthew

About the Book

"The events of 2020 have made painfully clear to the American public that racism and ignorance can be deadly. However, systemic inequality can kill through means other than police violence. Indeed, systemic racism can and should be understood as the most dangerous American comorbidity, and the most significant explanation for the disproportionately high mortality rate of poor and minority populations. This book defines important terms in the language of inequality and explains how these conditions can be fatal"--

Book Synopsis

Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2023

The author of the bestselling Just Medicine reveals how racial inequality undermines public health and how we can change it

With the rise of the Movement for Black Lives and the feverish calls for Medicare for All, the public spotlight on racial inequality and access to healthcare has never been brighter. The rise of COVID-19 and its disproportionate effects on people of color has especially made clear how the color of one's skin is directly related to the quality of care (or lack thereof) a person receives, and the disastrous health outcomes Americans suffer as a result of racism and an unjust healthcare system.

Timely and accessible, Just Health examines how deep structural racism embedded in the fabric of American society leads to worse health outcomes and lower life expectancy for people of color. By presenting evidence of discrimination in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system, Dayna Bowen Matthew shows how racial inequality pervades American society and the multitude of ways that this undermines the health of minority populations. The author provides a clear path forward for overcoming these massive barriers to health and ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to be healthy. She encourages health providers to take a leading role in the fight to dismantle the structural inequities their patients face.

A compelling and essential read, Just Health helps us to understand how racial inequality damages the health of our minority communities and explains what we can do to fight back.

Review Quotes

"Just Health is an awakening! It is a shockingly powerful exposition of how structural racism has caused a public health catastrophe happening in plain sight, every day, everywhere in the United States since the dawn of the nation. Elegantly written, accessible, and informative, it also offers concrete solutions to this pressing and untenable issue. A must-read for all in medicine, public health, and legal education, Dr. Matthew's book is a major contribution to these fields."--Kimani Paul-Emile, Fordham University School of Law

"Dayna Matthew draws on the powerful story of how her own family battled to overcome the long odds of structural racism to explain how ill health and early death reflect a society in which African Americans often have been dehumanized, rendered unequal, and left unprotected by the law. Re-engaging the passions and partnerships that brought medicine and civil rights together in the 1960s, and honoring the achievements of her parents and grandparents, Matthew invokes the power of law to unify rather than divide."--William Sage, the University of Texas at Austin

"If history has taught us anything, it is that once-in-a-generation luminaries often have the vision and skill necessary to not only see the problems that ail society, but also to effectively communicate solutions to said problems. Just Health is the preeminent compilation of solutions that we need for today, and Dr. Dayna Bowen Matthew is the visionary who has succinctly and concisely put the vision on paper. Coming on the heels of an unprecedented global public health crisis, Just Health arrives at the perfect time to bring to life the narrative buried deep within our laws that have long operated to the detriment of our country's health. This narrative is an absolute must-read for policy influencers, policy makers, students, clinicians, researchers, and concerned citizens alike."--Daniel E. Dawes, author of The Political Determinants of Health

"Matthew points to examples of successful population-level interventions in housing, food security, education, and neighborhood violence, illustrating the alliance between health care and legal professionals that could result in producing 'just health.'"-- "Choice"

"Matthew, dean and Harold H. Greene professor of law at the George Washington University Law School, begins her book on the health effects of structural racism on a personal note: her father died in his 40s and her mother in her 60s. 'The facts of my family's story defy the myth that millions of other Black Americans share this all-too-familiar position because of a family breakdown or failure of personal responsibility, ' she writes. A chapter dedicated to solutions 'outlines the most basic legal and policy reforms the nation needs if it is to dismantle the mechanisms supporting structural racism that prematurely ended my parents' lives.'"-- "Publishers Weekly, "Healthcare Books 2022""

"Proves that systemic racism is embedded in the nation's enduring societal institutions and relegates non-white Americans to ill-health and truncated life expectancies ... Matthew's exposé of health disparities will compel experts and general readers who are concerned about public health and the state of the nation generally to rally in a civil rights-era collaborative model of intervention at all levels to hold government accountable to dismantle discrimination."-- "Library Journal"

"This book is a reminder that we can join with multidisciplinary partners to advocate for a future that values every human life. Physicians who want to change the system that causes the social determinants of health can turn to this book for help in directing their voices to act at a political and legal level to create a future of equal opportunity for health and respect for all."-- "Family Medicine"

"Too often the conversation on health focuses on individual attributes and predispositions. Dayna Bowen Matthews's Just Medicine offers a brilliant and timely assessment of how racial minorities' poor health outcomes are tied to the structural choices and decisions that society makes in how it treats certain people. Structural problems require structural solutions, and this book offers a clear and compelling vision on how to achieve health equity."--Osagie K. Obasogie, Haas Distinguished Chair and Professor of Bioethics, University of California, Berkeley

About the Author

Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD, PhD is the Dean and Harold H. Greene Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School. Dr. Matthew is a leader in public health and civil rights law who has also held many public policy roles. These include serving as senior adviser to the Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and as a member of the health policy team for U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.