Sarah Abboud and Em Rabelais are with the Department of Women, Children, and Family Health Science, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago. Perla Chebli is a PhD candidate with the Community Health Sciences Division, School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Am J Public Health. 2019 Nov;109(11):1580-1583. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2019.305285. Epub 2019 Sep 19.
In response to the Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities' (NIMHD) new health disparities research framework, we call on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to acknowledge Arabs in the United States as a health disparity population. Arab classification as White leads to their cultural invisibility and perpetuates a cycle of undocumented health disparities.We provide examples of how this contested identity reinforces challenges associated with identifying this population and contributes to enactments of structural violence and undocumented health disparities. Decades of research with Arabs in the United States provides consistent evidence that their health does not fit the health profile of White Americans and that Arabs do not benefit from Whiteness and White privilege associated with their White racial categorization. On the contrary, Arabs in the United States experience discrimination and health disparities that require urgent attention; this can be achieved only by identifying the population with a racial category other than White.We conclude with recommendations to NIH and NIMHD to revise their definition of health disparity populations to include Arabs in the United States.
针对少数民族健康和健康差异研究所（NIMHD）的新健康差异研究框架，我们呼吁美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）承认美国的阿拉伯人为健康差异人群。将阿拉伯人归类为白人导致他们的文化不可见，并使未记录在案的健康差异持续存在。我们提供了一些例子，说明这种有争议的身份如何强化了与确定这一人群相关的挑战，并导致了结构性暴力和未记录在案的健康差异的实施。几十年来，在美国对阿拉伯人的研究提供了一致的证据，表明他们的健康状况不符合美国白人的健康状况，而且阿拉伯人并没有从与他们的白人种族分类相关的白人特权和白人身份中受益。相反，美国的阿拉伯人经历着需要引起紧急关注的歧视和健康差异；只有通过确定一个不同于白人的种族类别来识别人口，才能实现这一目标。最后，我们向 NIH 和 NIMHD 提出建议，修订其健康差异人群的定义，将美国的阿拉伯人包括在内。
