{"id":7149,"date":"2020-06-28T02:48:28","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T06:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7149"},"modified":"2020-06-28T02:48:28","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T06:48:28","slug":"covid-19-is-deadlier-for-black-brazilians-a-legacy-of-structural-racism-that-dates-back-to-slavery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=7149","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 is Deadlier for Black Brazilians, a Legacy of Structural Racism That Dates Back to Slavery"},"content":{"rendered":"
Protesters in S\u00e3o Paulo declare \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019 at a June 7 protest spurred by both U.S. anti-racist protests and the coronavirus\u2019s heavy toll on black Brazilians. Marcello Zambrana\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The United States and Brazil have much in common when it comes to the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

Both are among the world\u2019s hardest-hit countries<\/a>, where hundreds die daily. Their like-minded presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, have both been widely criticized<\/a> for their poor handling<\/a> of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

And in both countries the virus is disproportionately affecting black people<\/a>, the result of structural racism that dates back to slavery.<\/p>\n

Legacy of slavery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brazil forcibly brought some 4 million enslaved Africans into the country over three centuries, more than anywhere else in the Americas<\/a>. About half its 209 million people are black<\/a> \u2013 the world\u2019s second largest African-descendant population after Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Modern Brazil never had legalized racial discrimination like Jim Crow, but race-based inequalities are deeply entrenched. Despite a persistent myth<\/a> of Brazil as an integrated \u201cracial democracy,\u201d employment discrimination and residential segregation<\/a> limit opportunity for black people.<\/p>\n

These and other factors translate into lower life expectancy, education and standards of living<\/a> for Afro-Brazilians<\/a>. Black Brazilians live, on average, 73 years \u2013 three years less than white Brazilians, according to the 2017 National Household Survey<\/a>. The U.S. has a nearly identical life expectancy gap between races<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Residents of the Aglomerado da Serra favela, or slum settlement, register for food aid, June 4, 2020, Belo Horizonte. Pedro Vilela\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Because government data in Brazil is not automatically collected by race or ethnicity, though, the health impacts of racism can be hard to measure. Bolsonaro\u2019s administration did not require the collection of COVID-19 racial data<\/a> until late April, well into the pandemic, after much pressure. It has yet to release that information.<\/p>\n

Regardless, by April the Brazilian Health Ministry<\/a> had already flagged high COVID-19 death rates among Afro-Brazilians, a category that includes people who identify as \u201cblack\u201d or \u201cbrown\u201d in the census. Officials in hard-hit S\u00e3o Paulo<\/a> had also announced that mortality rates among COVID-19 patients were higher among black residents.<\/p>\n

Now, data collected in May<\/a> by outside researchers for over 5,500 municipalities shows that 55% of Afro-Brazilian patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 died, compared to 34% of white COVID-19 patients.<\/p>\n

Health and racism<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are health researchers \u2013 one American, one Brazilian \u2013 who for many years have studied<\/a> how racial disparities<\/a> in Brazil affect black people, looking at everything from sickle cell anemia to reproductive health.<\/p>\n

Our research over the past two months finds structural racism<\/a> \u2013 in the form of high-risk working conditions, unequal access to health and worse housing conditions \u2013 is a major factor shaping Brazil\u2019s COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

For over a decade, black activists and public health researchers have been pointing out that institutional racism<\/a> creates worse health outcomes for Brazil\u2019s black population<\/a>. Black Brazilians experience higher rates of chronic illnesses<\/a> like diabetes, high blood pressure, and respiratory and kidney problems due to food insecurity, inadequate access to medicine and unaffordable prescriptions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Racism itself also takes a severe physical toll on black people. Studies in the United States demonstrate that daily experiences of racism and discrimination can lead to dangerously high stress hormones and diminish the body\u2019s ability to fight disease<\/a>. Racial bias from medical professionals<\/a> then compounds poor outcomes for black patients.<\/p>\n

Unlike the U.S., Brazil has free, universal health care. But its public hospitals have been woefully underfunded since a deep recession that began in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Intensive care beds are now in short supply<\/a> at public hospitals in several cities fighting coronavirus outbreaks. This is especially detrimental to black COVID-19 patients, since Afro-Brazilians rely more heavily on the public health system<\/a> than white Brazilians, who often have private health insurance through their jobs.<\/p>\n

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The intensive care unit of the Gilberto Novaes Municipal Field Hospital in Manaus, Brazil, June 4, 2020. Lucas Silva\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
The intensive care unit of the Gilberto Novaes Municipal Field Hospital in Manaus, Brazil, June 4, 2020.<\/span>
\nLucas Silva\/picture alliance via Getty Images<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Poverty and exposure<\/strong><\/p>\n

Extreme economic inequality is another critical factor shaping the general health of Afro-Brazilians<\/a>. With the top 10% of the population earning 55% of domestic income, Brazil trails only Qatar in concentration of wealth, according to a 2019 United Nations report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Few, if any, Afro-Brazilians rank among Brazil\u2019s super-rich. National household survey data<\/a> shows that black and brown Brazilians make far less money than white Brazilians, even with equivalent educational background. The racial wage gap in Brazil actually outweighs the gender wage gap<\/a>: White women earn up to 74% more than black men.<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, the higher the salary, the less likely Afro-Brazilians are to have a job. Many work in the informal and service sectors, as house cleaners<\/a> or street vendors. Others are self-employed or unemployed.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, this economic insecurity severely lessens Afro-Brazilians\u2019 ability to socially distance<\/a> and makes them highly dependent on staying in their jobs despite the health threat.<\/p>\n

Maids, for example \u2013 most of whom are black women \u2013 are proving to be a high-risk group<\/a>. Domestic workers were among Brazil\u2019s first COVID-19 deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Neighborhood risks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brazil\u2019s coronavirus outbreak originated in wealthy neighborhoods whose residents had traveled to Europe, but the disease is now spreading fastest<\/a> in its poor, dense, long-neglected urban neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

A protest sign reading, \u2018They say to wash your hands, but how to do that without water?\u2019 on May 18, 2020. Miguel SCHINCARIOL \/ AFP via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just over 12 million Brazilians, most of them black, live in such informal urban settlements, from Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favelas to the \u201cperipheries\u201d of S\u00e3o Paulo. These areas have inadequate access to water and sanitation<\/a>, making it difficult to follow basic hygiene recommendations like washing one\u2019s hands with soap.<\/p>\n

So while the disparate impact of COVID-19<\/a> on black Brazilians was not inevitable, our research explains why it\u2019s unsurprising.<\/p>\n

The racism that pervades nearly every facet of Brazilian society increases black people\u2019s exposure to the virus \u2013 then reduces their ability to get to quality care.<\/p>\n

Kia Lilly Caldwell<\/a>, Professor, African, African American, and Diaspora Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/a><\/em> and Edna Maria de Ara\u00fajo<\/a>, Professor of Public Health and Epidemiology, State University of Feira de Santana (Brazil)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United States and Brazil have much in common when it comes to the coronavirus. Both are among the world\u2019s hardest-hit countries, where hundreds die daily. Their like-minded presidents, Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, have both been widely criticized for their poor handling of the pandemic. And in both countries the virus is disproportionately affecting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":7375,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/340716\/original\/file-20200609-21230-1ojep5e.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"COVID-19 is Deadlier for Black Brazilians, a Legacy of Structural Racism That Dates Back to Slavery","footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security-public-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7151,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7149\/revisions\/7151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}