Addressing Structural Stigma to Improve Health Equity

Structural stigma refers to forms of stigma reinforced by systems that exert some degree of control or influence over one’s lives, often through legal institutions. In a new Health Affairs brief, authors discuss the ramifications of structural stigma on health disparities through the lens of people living with substance use disorder (SUD). The laws surrounding substance use and the ramifications of their enforcement play an important role in negative health outcomes for people with SUD.

According to the authors, “This brief has three goals: to illustrate how laws and policies mediate structural stigma through the example of substance use disorder (SUD) stigma; to explore potential mechanisms linking structural stigma in law to negative health outcomes, and therefore to health inequities for populations that are already marginalized; and to recommend an approach for revision of laws and policies that can significantly reduce structural stigma for targeted communities.”

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(Source: Health Affairs, December 8^th, 2022)