Statement on racism

Racism is a public health issue. Fighting health inequity means fighting against racism. Black lives matter.

The killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Manuel Ellis, Tony McDade, James Scurlock, and Ahmaud Arbery testify to the racial injustice that persists across our country and within our communities. We share in the outrage and anguish expressed around the United States in response to the treatment of Black Americans by the police and the toll of police killings. And similar injustices are pervasive in many other parts of the world. We commit to working to produce the evidence that racism and discrimination are critical public health issues that demand an urgent response, wherever they occur.

IHME can and will do more to illuminate the public health impacts of systemic racism. We will undertake research to address racial disparities in a range of areas, including life expectancy, child mortality, education, and economic opportunity. We will expand our work on COVID-19 to specifically examine the differential impacts of the disease by race. And we will make every effort to bring attention to police brutality.

We will do this work while making our own organization more diverse and inclusive.  

We are committed to this fight.  

Christopher Murray 
IHME Director