Cross-country comparisons of racial/ethnic inequalities in health

Siddiqi and Nguyen ( see page 28 ) take advantage of a unique data set, the Joint Canada–United States Survey of Health (JCUSH), which allows for the examination of cross-national racial inequalities.1 Their article reports on a provocative set of analyses, which have important implications for understanding the causes and solutions to health inequalities. By examining the nature of health inequalities across two countries with many cultural and historical similarities, they seek to determine whether racial inequalities are unique to the USA or whether they also exist in Canada. The answer? Race inequalities are not found in Canada after accounting for socioeconomic status. Their findings place doubt on the highly questionable, yet widely reported, claim that differences in health status across racial/ethnic groups are mainly the result of innate biological or genetic differences. Rather, their analyses direct …