From the more than 700,000 deaths from COVID-19 in the US and the nearly 5 million worldwide, there emerge even more stories than match the statistics when one considers all of the patients' relations. While the numbers are staggering, when we humanize the stories, we are left with even greater devastation, of course. One of the stories among so many that seemed particularly salient and poignant to us was the death of Dr. Susan Moore.
Kidney disease continues to manifest stark racial inequities in the United States, revealing the entrenchment of racism and bias within multiple facets of society, including in our institutions, practices, norms, and beliefs. In this perspective, we synthesize theory and evidence to describe why an understanding of race and racism is integral to kidney care, providing examples of how kidney health disparities manifest interpersonal and structural racism.
This Comment article supports SDG 3 and 10 by underscoring the need to address systemic racism in order to achieve health equity, and emphasising the need to develop more nuanced metrics to more broadly document and measure the extent and impact of systemic racism on the health of affected communities.
COVID-19, Obesity, and Structural Racism.
