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When Angelina Jolie speaks out about injustice and inequality, people listen.
And this time around, she's sharing her thoughts in an opinion piece for the American Journal of Nursing about racial disparity in the healthcare industry.
Medical professionals, the actress and activist says, focus on white skin, and as a result, they "often miss injuries depending on race and ethnicity”.
“As the mother of children of multiple races, I've seen my children of colour be misdiagnosed, at times in ways that endangered their health,” she writes.
Three of her six children are adopted.
Her eldest son, Maddox, is from Cambodia, her daughter Zahara is Ethiopian and her son Pax is from Vietnam. She and Brad Pitt had Shiloh and twins Vivienne and Knox together.
She also shared a story about an experience Zahara had while in hospital.
“Reflecting personally, when my daughter Zahara, who's from Ethiopia, was hospitalised for a medical procedure, the nurse told me to call her ‘if she turns pink near her incisions’.
“I stood looking blankly at her, not sure she understood what was wrong with what she'd said. When she left the room, I had a talk with my daughter, both of us knowing that we would have to look for signs of infection based on our own knowledge, not what the nurse had said, despite her undoubted good intentions.”
This isn't the first time the 48-year-old has spoken about racial disparity. In 2020 she addressed the worldwide protests against racism and injustice and the need for systemic change.
The Maleficent actress left her role as the UNHCR’s Special Envoy after 20 years to become involved in a broader range of humanitarian and human-rights issues.
She’s been active in various causes, including supporting women in Iran, flood relief in Pakistan, and advocating for legislation to protect the victims of crime.
She ended her opinion piece saying there there’s a massive need to improve “diversity and representation in medical research and training” and that “it's past time to embrace new solutions”.
SOURCES: TODAY.COM; JOURNALS.LWW.COM; INDEPENDENT.CO.UK; UNHCR.ORG
