Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis in Ohio

Welcome all new and returning readers to this issue of the Ohio Journal of Public Health (OJPH). This is the first special issue that OJPH has published outside of the regular cycle, and it is devoted to the public health crisis of racism that Ohio and other states continue to face. Public health scholars have for years examined the impact racism has on community well-being and health outcomes.1 Structural racism and discrimination lead to many negative health outcomes in the Black community, including, but not limited to, higher rates of infant and maternal mortality, higher rates of hypertension and stroke, lower life expectancy, and mental health impairment. No one sector in society is solely responsible for these inequities; rather, multiple systems, including education, housing, criminal justice, health care, and others, act synergistically to create environments that literally kill people.2