‘Now is the time’: UBC’s inaugural UNESCO Chair tackles racialized health inequities through law and policy

The first UNESCO Chair to be housed at the University of British Columbia says she plans to use evidence to drive change on racialized health inequities—and that the fight has never mattered more.

Irehobhude O. Iyioha, associate professor in the Peter A. Allard School of Law, is the new UNESCO Chair on Health, Race and Human Rights, a role that makes UBC home to a unique global research and advocacy program at a moment of what many say is intense pressure on democratic institutions and racialized communities worldwide.

In this Q&A, Dr. Iyioha explains why the role carries particular urgency now.

Why does Canada need this Chair?

There is a plethora of reasons but two pressing concerns are the experiences associated with racialization across various social and legal institutions, and the increasing impacts of those experiences on the overall health and wellbeing of communities described as racialized.

More than a quarter of Canada’s population is racialized. This population faces extensive barriers to accessing healthcare. The barriers range from psychosocial barriers due to direct discrimination, to systemic barriers, which impact patients’ access to culturally sensitive, equitable and informed care. The same is true for Indigenous peoples who face persistent barriers in various institutions.

The systemic challenges that racialized individuals face, and their experiences of discrimination within various social institutions, have observable, measurable impacts. These include limited access to health determinants, such as education, employment and housing, ultimately affecting health outcomes, including higher morbidity and mortality. The Chair will study these impacts, as well as the role of law in shaping access to these health determinants.

What else will the Chair aim to achieve?

UNESCO Chairs are research teams led by a university or research institution that partners with UNESCO to advance work on key global areas through research, teaching, policy translation and advocacy. My aspirations for the Chair on Health, Race and Human Rights are comprehensive, but a unifying goal is to reframe and advance discourse on how the social construction of identity shapes lived experiences and health outcomes and, through data, to catalyze a shift in how these issues are understood and addressed.

In collaboration with a global team of experts, our work will concentrate on several core areas spanning the intersecting fields that define the Chair’s thematic scope. These areas include—but are not limited to—access to care, health, rights, and constitutional governance, inequality, vulnerability and law, health justice, law and social health determinants, global health governance, public health and infectious diseases management, reproductive and sexual health, and new digital health technologies.

Why does the world need this Chair now?

There could not be a more historically relevant time for this Chair. I believe we are experiencing in real-time a global erosion of democratic values and systems of accountability. We are witnessing ideological shifts in political cultures as evidenced in the politics of racialization and in authoritarian populism unfolding in the Global North and other jurisdictions around the world, including the Global South.

These developments and massive shifts in country-level commitments erode rights, limit opportunities, and have long-term implications for the health and advancement of racialized peoples.

Global unrests and conflicts worsen these outcomes. Racialized and Indigenous communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa face limited access to medical resources in times of war and conflict, as well as during public health disasters. These challenges demand attention, and with racialized peoples comprising about 85 per cent of the world’s population, the task is significant.

How will you navigate working in difficult areas or locations?

It has always taken courage to do this type of work, but you don’t back down from a good cause just because it’s getting harder to do the work. I’m realistic about the challenges and the work ahead, and I am fortunate to have a global community of support, including leading intellectuals and international experts working across multilateral and international organizations, such as the UN and WHO.

Drawing on the support of these networks, I prioritize principled decision-making that draws on data-informed analysis, allowing the evidence to determine the changes we need.

What are your immediate next steps?

Bringing our community together. We are planning our first global congress on health, race and human rights, and while we are busy at that, we are inviting strategic partnerships with groups with a demonstrated commitment to advancing equality, human rights and dignity.

Read more here.

Interview language(s): English

Images and video available for media use upon request.