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Experts demand end to hospital racism, citing war's toll on children's health
An international group of child health experts is calling for an end to racism in hospitals, emphasizing its impact on children traumatized by war. This follows the cancellation of a medical education event at Perth Children's Hospital focused on the psychological and physical toll of conflict.
An international group of child health experts is calling for an end to racism in hospitals, emphasizing its impact on children traumatized by war. This follows the cancellation of a medical education event at Perth Children's Hospital focused on the psychological and physical toll of conflict.
The architecture take
The core of this isn't just about 'being nice' to kids in hospitals, it's about basic nervous system regulation. Children exposed to war, displacement, and chronic stress already carry a massive allostatic load. They show up with elevated cortisol, dysregulated HPA axis activity, and an overtaxed vagal nerve—what the body does when it’s constantly bracing for danger. Introducing racism into that environment, even subtly, keeps that threat system on high alert. It makes a safe space feel unsafe, which means their bodies can't drop into rest-and-digest, making healing physically harder and deepening their trauma. I'm not surprised a medical education event about this was cancelled, but it highlights how much work we have to do just to understand the direct physiological impact of social stressors on a body that's already barely holding on. Real safety isn't just absence of violence; it's also absence of micro-aggressions.