State Health Plan declares racism a public health crisis

A new state health report pinpoints racism as a public health crisis while also noting Illinois needs to improve in the areas of maternal and infant health, mental health and substance use disorders.

The broad goals are laid out in a draft of the State Health Improvement Plan, which will be finalized and presented to the Illinois General Assembly next year. The SHIP is part of Healthy Illinois 2028, a five-year plan outlining the major public health crisis the state hopes to address.

After two years of assessment and planning, Healthy Illinois 2028 prioritized five major public health issues: Racism as a public health crisis; Maternal and infant health; Mental health and substance use disorders; Chronic disease; and COVID-19 and emerging diseases.

The report found these issues consistently overlap and are all exacerbated by a lack of access to health care and wraparound services, the infrastructure of public health systems and racial inequities.

The draft improvement plan for the first time makes a point of listing racism as an overarching public health crisis in Ill. “Racism is both a cross-cutting issue and a stand alone priority because it is at the root of many, if not all health issues,” Illinois Public Health Institute senior program manager Janece Gough said.

IDPHI was one of the entities that contributed to the draft under the guidance of the Illinois Department of Public Health and the State Board of Health. The report was also co-authorized by staff from the University of Illinois Chicago’s Policy, Practice and Prevention Research Center. The plan aims to address inequities by forming an appointed advisory committee on racism in health care and building a more diverse health care workforce. This type of racism happens when health care workers hold racial biases against patients, whether intentional or not.

Call said eight local entities in Illinois, such as the Chicago Department of Public Health, the Peoria City/County Health Department, and a Champaign school board, have already issued a formal declaration of racism as a public health crisis. According to the American Public Health Association, 19 other states have declared racism a public health crisis, including Michigan and Wisconsin.

IDPH spokespersonJim Leach said the agency aims to partner with Black-led organizations around the state to reduce the “historic and present-day disparities” found within HIV. “More than half of the HIV testing and risk reduction services delivered with IDPH grant funds were provided to clients who identified as Black/African American,” Leach told Capitol News Illinois in an email. Healthy Illinois 2028 lists an infrastructure recommendation to “de-silo funding and eliminate inequitable funding.”

Though reducing overdose mortality was outlined as a priority goal in the previous SHIP, overdosed deaths have continued to climb in the state. The IDPH Opioid Data Dashboard recorded 3,261 opioid-involved overdose deaths in 2022, a new record for the state.

The SHIP draft lists broad objectives including reducing the number of emergency department visits and increasing access to health care and wraparound services. It also sets a goal to “increase funding to support the infrastructure development of the mental health and substance use disorder system.”

Absent from the report is any mention of licensed overdose prevention sites, something many addiction researchers and advocates for those with substance use disorders support. Overdose prevention sites, which are places where people who use drugs can get clean equipment and drug samples tested, presented one major evidence-based strategy to reduce overdose deaths; Illinois has none. In countries with overdose prevention sites, like Canada, Australia and several European countries, no deaths have been reported at any of these centers.

Without proper medical attention and paperwork, the number of asylum seekers places a particular strain on public schools that need to address their physical and mental health needs.