TED on BBC sounds - race and sex

[WaltzingBetty]

I just listened to this podcast episode - not sure if it's been shared previously but it makes some interesting and very valid points about the impacts (or not) of race and sex on healthcare provision
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000l9mr

Haven’t had a chance to listen to this but I remember hearing a discussion on race and healthcare and in many cases race was simply a proxy for occupation or deprivation rather than race itself being a factor. The discussion was around Covid but went wider. If I remember correctly the raised BAME risk for Covid was principally in people from South Asia. (Certainly no logic to grouping ‘BAME’ together).

Having said that race is definitely a factor in medicine eg. sickle cell anaemia (being a carrier gives some protection against malaria so more common in malarial countries), favism, various genetic diseases in Ashkenazi Jews, alcohol intolerance...

Ah sorry misread your post, I see it is about healthcare provision rather than health.

No @Aesopfable it touches on all of the issues you mention - and how we often use 'race' as a proxy for those issues. Essentially it argues that race is a social not biological construct and so social factors for disease should be considered. But that sex is a biological not social construct and so it's important to consider sex-based risks and in particular how women may describe different symptoms to men.