Antiracism in leading public health universities, journals and funders: commitments, accountability and the decision-makers

Abstract

Introduction Two years since the murder of George Floyd, there has been unprecedented attention to racial justice by global public health organisations. Still, there is scepticism that attention alone will lead to real change.

Methods We identified the highest-ranked 15 public health universities, academic journals and funding agencies, and used a standardised data extraction template to analyse the organisation’s governance structures, leadership dynamics and public statements on antiracism since 1 May 2020.

Results We found that the majority of organisations (26/45) have not made any public statements in response to calls for antiracism actions, and that decision-making bodies are still lacking diversity and representation from the majority of the world’s population. Of those organisations that have made public statements (19/45), we identified seven types of commitments including policy change, financial resources, education and training. Most commitments were not accompanied by accountability measures, such as setting goals or developing metrics of progress, which raises concerns about how antiracism commitments are being tracked, as well as how they can be translated into tangible action.

Conclusion The absence of any kind of public statement paired with the greater lack of commitments and accountability measures calls into question whether leading public health organisations are concretely committed to racial justice and antiracism reform.