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COVID-19, the pandemic of highly contagious respiratory disease, presents a global public health emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased awareness of the role of public health and its professionals in responding to the pandemic. Racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States are more likely to contract and die from COVID-19 versus Whites, highlighting health disparities. Higher education schools and programs in public health can help prepare students to address this global pandemic through expanded curriculum on social determinants of health disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, teachings on implicit bias and anti-racism, interprofessional education, and practice-based learning. Moreover, eliminating health disparities is a leading public health priority in the United States and can help attain the World Health Organization goal of achieving health equity. This chapter highlights the need for public health curriculum that outlines strategies to address racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 to prepare and motivate a future healthcare workforce. How to cite this chapter: Njoku, A. (2022). COVID-19 and health disparities opportunities for public health curriculum enhancement. In  R. Ammigan, R. Y. Chan, & K. Bista, (eds), COVID-19 and higher education in the global context: Exploring contemporary issues and challenges (pp. 139-153). STAR Scholars. https://starscholars.org/product/covid-19-and-higed/

U.S. society has been gripped with dueling pandemics of racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, highly publicized instances of police brutality against Black persons, and ensuing unrest to challenges these atrocities. In higher education, the rapid pivot response to COVID-19 with remote and virtual learning has also highlighted multiple levels of mental health trauma and disparities. There has also been vicarious trauma for Black women in academia who may have seen their family, friends, or loved ones reflected during increased media coverage of police brutality. This implores the need for effective strategies to mitigate these issues. This chapter discusses evidence-based strategies for Black women who navigate academia and teach during times of COVID-19 and social unrest. This chapter also proposes strategies for university leaders to consider alleviating cultural and racial gaps in the classroom or workplace and foster diversity and inclusion in academia.

In addition to fueling health disparities, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated inequities among faculty of color. COVID-19 has also taken a dramatic toll on college students’ mental health, with evident racial disparities. Gender inequality in research productivity has also been revealed, with women submitting fewer papers compared to men. This pandemic has created an opportunity, of sorts, to promote academic and career success among women and students of color in academia. Research has shown that mentorship and research opportunities improve chances for success among students of color in higher education. Faculty members can also progress personally and professionally from such collaborations. Still, students of color are not equally given opportunities to collaborate with faculty on research. This chapter shares perspectives and strategies from Black women faculty and graduate students regarding faculty-student research to promote academic and career success among faculty and students of color in academia.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) women faculty and administrators are breaking barriers, maintaining excellence, becoming award-winning scholars, and flourishing as experts in their fields. Still, they must survive while they thrive, grappling with insecurity, writer’s block, and imposter syndrome. Further examination prompts the realization that imposter syndrome may be a scapegoat for structural racism. Moreover, COVID-19 has created substantial health and financial tolls, fueled mental and emotional fatigue, and disrupted workplace productivity. These barriers caused by COVID-19 and structural racism inspire the courage to reassure, uplift, mentor, invite, and make collaborative spaces for BIPOC women to express feelings of vulnerability, unease, and, ultimately, hope. When seats are missing at the table, one can bring their own table and seats. In a field of often unforgiving critics, the authors provided underrepresented scholars the opportunity to promote authenticity and illuminate their voices. This chapter shares the authors’ reflections on being able to share the diverse and resilient perspectives of BIPOC women in academia.

The disproportionate impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on African American communities necessitates an increased focus on the intersectional roles of racism, stigma, and other social determinants of health in influencing disease and mortality risk. The Weathering Framework is applied to demonstrate the dynamic interrelationships between these factors and to conceptualize COVID-19 as a stressful life event that will have profound health implications over the life course for African Americans. Recommendations for population health research, interventions and policies aimed at reducing COVID-19 incidence and mortality, and mitigation of the long-term impacts of the pandemic on communities of color are discussed.

The pandemic of respiratory disease spreading from person-to-person, named “coronavirus disease 2019” (abbreviated “COVID-19”), presents a public health emergency of international concern. This pandemic is occurring during renewed attention to the persistent issue of police brutality against Blacks in the United States. Protests have ensued to highlight perceived and observed injustice against minorities, particularly Black people. Concerns arise that these protests may complicate efforts to adhere to social distancing and increase risks of COVID-19 exposure among Black persons, who are already disproportionality affected by COVID-19 outcomes due to systemic barriers within the healthcare system and society. This article discusses police brutality against Blacks in the United States and subsequent protests, considerations for social distancing and racial disparities in health during COVID-19, and the need for policies to ensure fair and equitable enforcement of social distancing mandates. We also discuss the need for policies to improve access to COVID-19 testing, diagnosis, and management among underserved and minority communities. © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected racial and ethnic minority groups in the United States. Although a promising solution of the COVID-19 vaccination offers hope, disparities in access again threaten the health of these communities. Various explanations have arisen for the cause of disparate vaccination rates among racial and ethnic minorities, including discussion of vaccine hesitancy. Conversely, the role of vaccine accessibility rooted in structural racism as a driver in these disparities should be further explored. This paper discusses the impact of structural barriers on racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 vaccine uptake. We also recommend public health, health system, and community-engaged approaches to reduce racial disparities in COVID-19 disease and mortality. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

COVID-19 has extensively reshaped lifestyle practices, supply chain dynamics, and climate mitigation efforts. The resulting crises from the pandemic in relation to local and community sustainability practices have not yet been investigated in depth. There is a need to explore the individual characteristics and responses from rapid transitions of lifestyles at various scales. Analysing how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped and altered sustainable living practices, and the motivations supporting them, has yet to be determined but is crucial to gain further insight to improve management responses to large-scale disruptive change. Presenting empirical findings from semi-structured interviews in New Haven County, Connecticut, this study elucidates the ways in which the lifestyles have been altered and how they responded while specifically highlighting the consequences for behavioural routines and sustainable lifestyle practices. As a result of lockdowns and pandemic mitigation responses, individual sustainability engagement fluctuated with participants shifting dietary, mobility, and energy and food consumption patterns. Specifically, participants emphasised substantial decrease in daily travel during initial phases of the pandemic alongside increased online shopping and energy use at home. Though changes to consumption practices were replaced former habits with unsustainable ones, individuals also noted how they co-opted the pandemic over time to pursue sustainable actions at home. As a macro-level ‘window of opportunity’ and disruptive change, this study illustrates how sustainable lifestyle practices were reshaped; some by choice, some by force, and some reflecting a forced choice. These findings have clear implications for the stability of maintaining sustainable practices influenced by landscape-level shocks.

This chapter provides a brief autobiographical account of her multiethnic and racial background as a Louisiana Creole in south Louisiana. The author points out that among all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, Indigenous people are the only ones that require some form of lineal Native American descent or blood quantum. The chapter provides an ancestry account of two American Indian tribes along the bayous of south Louisiana, the Chitimacha, and the United Houma Nation. While one federally recognized tribe has attempted to remove all relations to individuals of Black, Negro, or African American descent, the other has closed enrollment to new members (despite lineal descent), with the unifying factor among these communities being establishing progenitors. Finally, the author articulates how lack of access to resources related to issues such as COVID-19 has perpetuated the historical legacy of medical racism in tribal and underserved communities in the United States.

On Wednesday, January 20, 2021, Kamala Harris broke through the gender and racial barrier that has kept men at the top ranks of American politics for over two centuries. This moment singlehandedly challenged the definition of leadership and who “fits” in that traditional model. Reyes examines the challenges and highlights three lessons of leading in color in academia today, being the first Latina to chair her department. Her journey reflects similar experiences of women of color who are burdened by the emotional toll that comes with being a part of systemic change, by virtue of leading while of color. To begin dismantling systemic racism and sexism, organizations must commit to addressing the issues head-on by reexamining policies, practices, and work environments that have perpetuated systemic inequalities. Greater supports are needed for women of color to be effective as their contributions are invaluable in achieving true systemic change.

COVID-19 brought me challenges and opportunities. I lost important people in this pandemic but also accomplished a lot. COVID-19 gave me a chance to soul search, grow, and develop. I blossomed into the woman I have always wanted to be but could not find. During it all, I was awarded my undergraduate degree, got accepted to a graduate program, received a new job, and bought my first car. With every blessing came a challenge, including health problems. Still, I persevered. Opportunities continue to present themselves and I seize them. Professional successes included publishing an article, presenting at a state public health conference, being featured in my university’s annual newsletter, and nailing my dream job! I got to “See Me!”, a woman of color coming from another country, accomplishing so much in a short span of time. This chapter details a true testimony and how giving up is not an option.

When I first took the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) quiz, I was overcome with the enormity of Black trauma contained in those ten questions. The quiz reflected my own story, as well as those of Black students, women, and families—traumas that were magnified by the impact of three pandemics: COVID-19, economic inequities, and systemic racism. The definition of trauma as “emotional responses to disastrous life events” like COVID-19 can have both short- and long-term health consequences throughout one’s lifespan. The impact of COVID-19 as Black trauma in my family will reverberate long after society heals from the last three years and moves toward living with COVID-19 symbiotically. It is imperative to recognize ACEs and their perpetual trauma to implement successful trauma-informed practices to counteract and undo the damaging effects of COVID-19 on our collective lives.

Mounting evidence suggests that differential environmental exposures significantly contribute to a wide range of population health disparities. Adopting a life course approach to maternal and child health enables readers to uncover the mechanisms by which prenatal and early life environmental exposures potentially shape both short- and long-term physical and mental health outcomes. This chapter applies the life course approach to explore the adverse influences of environmental risk factors on maternal and child health. The following four case studies will be discussed: (1) the pervasive impacts of secondhand smoke; (2) the deleterious effects of lead exposure; (3) the development of asthma; and (4) the potential origins of autism spectrum disorder. The chapter also provides recommendations for programmatic and policy interventions to reduce the prevalence of four salient environmental hazards, including secondhand smoke, lead, air pollution, and pesticides, as well as proposed future directions in research regarding these exposures.

BackgroundCancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States. Most studies have reported rural versus urban and Black versus White cancer disparities. However, few studies have investigated racial disparities in rural areas.ObjectiveWe conducted a literature review to explore the current state of knowledge on racial and ethnic disparities in cancer attitudes, knowledge, occurrence, and outcomes in rural United States.MethodsA systematic search of PubMed and Embase was performed. Peer-reviewed articles published in English from 2004-2023 were included. Three authors independently reviewed the articles and reached a consensus.ResultsAfter reviewing 993 articles, a total of 30 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the present review. Studies revealed that underrepresented racial and ethnic groups in rural areas were more likely to have low cancer-related knowledge, low screening, high incidence, less access to treatment, and high mortality compared to their White counterparts.ConclusionUnderrepresented racial and ethnic groups in rural areas experienced a high burden of cancer. Improving social determinants of health may help reduce cancer disparities and promote health.

Objective: We aim to determine the association between insomnia symptoms and mental health in females and males and compare mental health care utilization and perceived barriers between females and males with insomnia symptoms. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study using the National Health Interview Survey. Insomnia symptoms included self-reported “trouble falling asleep”, ‘trouble staying asleep”, and “waking up feeling not well rested”. Mental health included self-reported anxiety and depression. Multivariable logistic regression was used to assess the association between insomnia symptoms and mental health in females and males. Results: A total of 26,691 adults were included. The mean age was 48.2 years; 51.4% were females, and 48.6% were males. Insomnia symptoms were associated with anxiety and depression for both females and males. These associations were stronger in younger adults (<50 years) than older adults (≥50 years). Females with insomnia symptoms were more likely to receive mental health care (OR = 1.7; 95% CI = 1.53, 1.87) but also to delay mental health care because of its cost (OR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.67, 2.30) or needed mental health care but did not get it because of the cost (OR = 2.14; 95% CI: 1.82, 2.50) than their males counterpart. Conclusions: Insomnia symptoms were associated with mental health in females and males, being stronger in younger adults than older adults, with gender differences in mental health care utilization and financial barriers to mental health care. Holistic approaches involving prevention and better access to mental health care are warranted.

Pharmaceutical products, including active pharmaceutical ingredients and inactive ingredients such as packaging materials, have raised significant concerns due to their persistent input and potential threats to human and environmental health. Discourse on reducing pharmaceutical waste and subsequent pollution is often limited, as information about the toxicity of pharmaceuticals in humans is yet to be fully established. Nevertheless, there is growing awareness about ecotoxicity, and efforts to curb pharmaceutical pollution in the European Union (EU), United States (US), and Canada have emerged along with waste disposal and treatment procedures, as well as growing concerns about impacts on human and animal health, such as through antimicrobial resistance. Yet, the outcomes of such endeavors are often disparate and involve multiple agencies, organizations, and departments with little evidence of cooperation, collaboration, or oversight. Environmental health disparities occur when communities exposed to a combination of poor environmental quality and social inequities experience more sickness and disease than wealthier, less polluted communities. In this paper, we discuss pharmaceutical environmental pollution in the context of health disparities and examine policies across the US, EU, and Canada in minimizing environmental pollution.