Recent research on life expectancy in American urban areas indicates that cities with deep history and greater degrees of racial and ethnic segregation often have alarming disparities in life expectancies across urban neighborhoods in public health studies.27

For instance, there is a 30- year difference in life expectancy between individuals living in the predominantly Black neighborhoods of the South Side of Chicago and the predominantly white Streeterville residents, just nine miles North.

Given that neighborhoods with higher life expectancies tend to have greater access to quality health care, increased educational attainment, and higher income, it’s important to note how healthcare and its relevant social determinants (e.g., racism, discrimination, violence, access to care, safe housing, etc.) were exacerbated by the pandemic. In fact, the city of Chicago’s Mayor Lightfoot recently declared racism as a public health crisis in Chicago.28

Impact on Women

Prior to COVID-19, implicit bias in women’s healthcare was an existing issue. Women are too often ignored within the healthcare system, blocking them from receiving the care they desperately need.29 30 31 During the pandemic, this reality worsened, particularly for Women of Color.

Impact on Women

Impact on Women

BIPOC children have also been unduly affected. Per the CDC, BIPOC children are 78% more at risk than their white peers to be infected by COVID-19. Also, Hispanic, Black, and Native American children are dying of COVID-19 at much higher rates than their white peers.33 34 35 36
Impact on Women

Impact on Women

Per the Illinois Department of Public Health’s 2021 Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report, Black women were about three times as likely to die from a pregnancy-related condition as white women. 83% of the pregnancy related deaths were potentially preventable.37

Impact on Women
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"CWHC empowers women, trans people, and young people by providing healthcare and health education in a respectful environment where people pay what they can afford."