"Lifestyle Choices" Doesn't Explain Why Black Americans are Dying Younger | Big Think

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With more than 30 years in public health in America and Africa, NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Mary Travis Bassett says that the same diseases — heart disease, stroke, and cancer of all kinds — that are killing white Americans are killing black Americans younger and in higher numbers. Historically, public health has tended to "blame the victim," pointing the finger at lifestyle choices like diet. But, says Bassett, the conditions that lead to those choices, and other environmental factors contributing to the disparity, are often beyond the control of the people at risk.

It's not about making poor choices, says Mary Bassett. It's about the fact that people in the hardest hit neighborhoods (like Brownsville, Brooklyn) don't have enough options to choose from.

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MARY BASSETT:

Dr. Mary Travis Bassett was appointed commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in January 2014. With more than 30 years of experience in public health, Dr. Bassett has dedicated her career to advancing health equity. After Bassett completed her medical training, she moved to Harare, Zimbabwe, where she served on the medical faculty at the University of Zimbabwe for 17 years. In that role, she developed a range of AIDS prevention interventions to address one of the world’s worst AIDS epidemics. She later served as the associate director of Health Equity at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Southern Africa Office, overseeing it Africa AIDS portfolio.

In 2002, Dr. Bassett was appointed deputy commissioner of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where she directed key initiatives, including bans on smoking and trans fats in restaurants and the requirement at chain restaurants to post calorie counts. She also established the department’s District Public Health Offices (DPHOs) in East and Central Harlem, the South Bronx and North and Central Brooklyn to lead targeted health and communication strategies in these communities that experience an excess burden of disease. Each office advances community health through home visiting programs, free exercise programs, efforts to increase access to healthy food, meetings with area doctors and coordination with local coalitions.

Most recently, since 2009, Dr. Bassett served at the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as program director for the African Health Initiative and more recently has led the Child Well-being Program. Both portfolios have focused on strengthening systems to support health improvement.

Dr. Bassett grew up in New York City, received her B.A. in History and Science from Harvard University, her M.D. from Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. She served her medical residency at Harlem Hospital Center, and has a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Washington. She served for many years as an associate editor of the American Journal of Public Health.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Mary Bassett: What is killing blacks in higher numbers at younger ages are the same things that kill all of us. Mainly cardiovascular disease, that means heart disease and stroke, and cancer of all kinds. So the same thing that takes people prematurely is the same burden that’s borne by all of us. It’s not a set of exotic or special diseases. Well New York has gotten healthier and healthier in recent years and our life expectancy now exceeds that of t.......

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