A public health framework can help recognize racism as a structural and social determinant of health. Guided by principles of health equity, this talk explores how groups are racialized, regardless of religion or citizenship, in conflict environments, with disastrous consequences for life, health, and well-being. Analysis of events in the Palestinian territories, along with the trajectory of events over the past 75 years, clarifies the ways in which structural racism is a driver of health inequities.

Yara M. Asi, Ph.D., is an assistant professor at the School of Global Health Management and Informatics at the University of Central Florida. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, DAWN MENA, a 2020-2021 U.S. Fulbright Scholar to the West Bank, and co-director of the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights. Her research agenda focuses on health, human rights, and development in conflict-affected and fragile settings. She is the author of How War Kills: The Overlooked Threats to Our Health (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), articles in multiple peer-reviewed journals, and essays for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.