Intended for healthcare professionals

Racism in medicine

The BMJ's special issue on racism in medicine reflects the working lives of doctors from ethnic minority backgrounds and the healthcare experiences of ethnic minority patients. This edition focuses on race and its impact on health. It is a timely reflection, as we in the UK try to make sense of the societal upheavals which have convulsed the country in recent times, and in which race, racism, and power have come under close scrutiny.


Zosia Kmietowicz, News editor and the editorial lead for our special issue, discusses what inspired us to make an issue focused on racism and medicine, and how we did it.


It is a truism to say that words matter, but it is especially the case when talking about an issue defined by power and prejudice. We had a number of discussions about language in the course of putting the journal together, covering everything from the difference between race and ethnicity to the various terms used to describe people. Navjoyt Ladher, Head of education, explains how we decided what terms to use

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