Dr. Aaron Shirley, a physician who has worked for better health care for blacks in Mississippi, said that the history of segregation and violence against blacks still informs the way people see one another, particularly in the South, making some whites reluctant to support programs that they believe benefit blacks.
That is compounded by the country’s rapidly changing demographics, Dr. Geiger said, in which minorities will eventually become a majority, a pattern that has produced a profound cultural unease, particularly when it has collided with economic insecurity.
Dr. Shirley said: “If you look at the history of Mississippi, politicians have used race to oppose minimum wage, Head Start, all these social programs. It’s a tactic that appeals to people who would rather suffer themselves than see a black person benefit.”
Opponents of the expansion bristled at the suggestion that race had anything to do with their position. State Senator Giles Ward of Mississippi, a Republican, called the idea that race was a factor “preposterous,” and said that with the demographics of the South — large shares of poor people and, in particular, poor blacks — “you can argue pretty much any way you want.”
jacquelinec56 on 04 Jan 16Before the British colonial government set up hospitals for native Nigerians, Catholic Missions not only set up hospitals but were responsible for the training and education of nurses while many doctors were educated in Europe. The British government set up hospitals but initially these hospitals were only for Europeans, It was not until after WWII that the British government tried to expand medical and hospital access to native Nigerians and medical education. After Nigerian independence a federal republic was set up and ownership of health facilities is distributed between the federal government, the states, and local governments. States hold the largest share of hospital beds at 43% and the federal and local governments at 13% and 11% respectively.
