Race, Privilege and Inequality Visiting Speaker Series Lecture "Health Equity Issues among Immigrants and Hispanics:   The Role of Economics and Immigration Policies" by Dr. Monica Garcia Perez

Racial and ethnic disparities in health and wealth have regularly been studied separately; we do not yet understand their interrelationships, even though Hispanics have a higher life expectancy than whites or Blacks. With 1 in 6 people in the country being Hispanic and with a fast-growing Hispanic population, Hispanics’ life expectancy affects the nation’s demographics and population changes.  The “Latino advantage” is not reflected in all health conditions.  Latinos are more likely to die due to liver disease, diabetes, AIDS, or cervical cancer than non-Hispanic White individuals. The analysis complicates even further when the lack of access to healthcare affects the likelihood of diagnosis and care for certain conditions, especially chronic conditions. Hispanics are 63% more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and 2.5 times the chance of undiagnosed diabetes. This lecture will show the connection between immigration policies and socioeconomic background that shape the aggregate findings about the Hispanic population’s health outcomes in the US, with a lens that covers different life stages and potential intergenerational links.