Health Justice

Health justice conceptualizes the ways in which health inequities are rooted in laws, policies, and practices that structure the opportunity to be healthy. This course will explore the deeply embedded, historical and legal underpinnings of racial, ethnic, gender-based and ableist health inequities in the U.S. We will consider how specific laws and policies—as written, implemented, and enforced—drive persistent health inequities. Further, we will analyze law and policy reforms focused on remedying health inequities. Topics will include: the role of civil rights, human rights, and reproductive rights in health justice; policy-driven structural inequities—such as, economic inequality, place-based disparities, and mass incarceration; how past and current discrimination and stigma influence the health of marginalized groups; and intersectoral frameworks for public health, medicine, and law to promote health justice.