Race & Health Justice Group

Medact Race & Health Justice (RHJ) is a new Medact group created in response to longstanding structural and systemic racism which have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global uprising against racism and police brutality.

The Medact RHJ group envisions dismantling the colonial and racist legacy in healthcare and medicine. We seek to collectively explore a love and justice-oriented transformation of culture and structures in the NHS and wider society.

We are creating a safe space within Medact for members to unlearn and challenge internalised racism and expand our anti-racist skills. We challenge privilege and structural whiteness within healthcare and medical institutions as well as the wider social justice movement.

We challenge the colonial and racist footprints in our interpersonal relationships, the structures and the practices of our organisations, including the hegemony and universality of ‘Western’ knowledge. We also recognise the intersectional nature of race justice. To this end, we collaborate with other Medact groups, including the Securitisation of Health and Migrant Solidarity Groups.

Vision

Dismantling the colonial and racist legacy in healthcare and medicine. A love and justice-oriented transformation of the culture and structures in the NHS and wider society.

Aims and Objectives

Target population: Healthcare staff, and individuals and communities we serve

Undoing racism, colonial legacy and white supremacy through:

Decoloniality of ourselves ─ to transform as a society, we need to transform as individuals:

  • Creating a safe space within Medact for members to unlearn and challenge internalised racism and expand our anti-racist skills
  • Promote the process of relearning to encourage curiosity and openness
  • Amplifying the voices of BAME members
  • Challenging privilege and structural whiteness within our organisation and other social justice movements
  • Highlighting within Medact’s work and Medact groups the intrinsic connection between societal racism and other areas of Medact’s campaigning work

Decoloniality of medical education:

  • Providing platforms and discussion space for sharing experiences of racism in health and medicine
  • Promoting the importance of racial justice as central to health through engaging with undergraduate & postgraduate education

Decoloniality of healthcare and challenging racism in the NHS:

  • Highlighting the intersectional nature of true racial justice and the importance of recognising and decolonising the social determinants of health
  • Supporting healthcare workers in challenging racism in their healthcare setting through building and sharing practical tools
  • Working against policing in healthcare and collaborating with other Medact working on this area e.g. Securitisation in health, MSG
  • Promoting support for BAME healthcare workers throughout the pandemic, including appropriate use of risk assessments and PPE
  • Advocating for protective measures for contract workers in the NHS
  • Promoting better representation amongst leadership roles in the NHS

Blog series

Our members launched a blog series in August to explore race and health:

This is an uprising, but can it be a revolution…. by Dr Miski Osman A doctor’s Survival Kit for the Hostile Environment and Racism in the UK by Roghieh Dehghan

Get involved

If you want to get in touch with us, please email [email protected]