Anti-Black Racism in Undergraduate Medical and Public Health Education in Canada:
Situational Assessments
About the project
The situational assessments on Anti-Black Racism in Undergraduate Medical and Public Health Education in Canada investigates the degree of inclusion of content on Black health and anti-Black racism in medical and public health education curricula in Canada. Medical and public health trainees and professionals rely on their training to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skill sets to be responsive to their patients and communities. Therefore, medical schools and schools of public health have a critical role to play to ensure that appropriate information on anti-Black racism and Black health is available to all learners. However, adequate and appropriate knowledge on Black health and anti-Black racism is largely absent and/or inconsistent across Canadian medical and public health curricula. There is a need for comprehensive knowledge on Black health and anti-Black racism curricula across Canada that will adequately support patient and population health for diverse Black people.
A survey was designed to identify:
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The nature and extent of inclusion of anti-Black racism in undergraduate medical education and public health education (focus on Master of Public Health programs) across Canada, and
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Existing resources and assets that may be incorporated into or complement the Black Health Education Collaborative’s resources.
Our findings confirm that knowledge on Black health and anti-Black racism is inconsistent or absent in graduate-level public health curricula and medical training. Comprehensive and appropriate information on Black health and anti-Black racism health curricula is critical to support the patient and population health of Black people in Canada.
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To address this gap, the Black Health Education Collaborative has developed a suite of resources on anti-Black racism and Black health based on the tenets of critical race theory - including the Black Health Primer - which will provide learners and faculty with core knowledge and skills to unlearn anti-Black racism and develop decolonized anti-racist practices that work to improve Black health and wellbeing.