Trump Administration Cuts Funding For Black Infant Health Research, Labeling It A DEI Initiative
It would surprise absolutely no one that infant mortality rates in America are disproportionately high among Black babies, or that Black and Latino babies are more vulnerable than their white counterparts to serious, life-threatening illnesses such as upper respiratory infection (URI).
Of course, anyone who has been paying attention to our current political climate would be equally unsurprised to find that, under the Trump administration, medical research that seeks to understand why Black children suffer these health issues so often is under attack, because the results of that research might hurt white people’s feelings. In other words, Black babies might have to die in order to placate white fragility.
According to The Cincinnati Herald, a federally funded study exploring why Black babies in Detroit are disproportionately born prematurely has been abruptly terminated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), apparently, because the study focused on the effects of stress associated with racism and poverty, and how that stress might alter gene function and contribute to adverse birth outcomes — or as the Trump administration defines it, DEI.
From the Herald:
In termination letters sent to researchers, the NIH claimed the project relied on “artificial and non-scientific categories” linked to DEI and asserted it did not “enhance health or advance science.”
Researchers behind the project strongly contest that explanation, calling the decision politically motivated. The cancellation aligns with a broader initiative by the Trump administration to dismantle DEI initiatives across the federal government, including within health and science agencies. Numerous projects focused on minority and LGBTQ health have been defunded under the same rationale.
So, a bunch of so-called medical authorities from the same administration that gave the position of a Secretary of Health and Human Services to RFK Jr. — who thinks Black people don’t need vaccines as much as white people because we have super negro immune systems — have canceled funding for this research, because, in their non-medical opinions, any research tied to racial disparities is “non-scientific.” Actual medical experts, of course, say differently.
“Health-related social needs are health care,” said Dr. Alex Peahl, an OB-GYN at the University of Michigan and co-director of the Partnering for the Future Clinic. “And if we want to improve the health of pregnant people and their families, we have to care for every part of their lives, not just the clinical pieces.”
Source: Trump Administration Cuts Funding For Black Infant Health Research, Labeling It A DEI Initiative
