This story published in collaboration with Vox, part of a series on reparations. In 1972, two social workers set Debra Blackmon’s sterilization in motion. The primary diagnosis in her medical records read: mental retardation severe. Soon, Blackmon would undergo a total abdominal hysterectomy, a procedure, sanctioned by the local government, to remove her uterus and […]
Health
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Are New Medical Treatments Safe and Effective for Black Americans?
As the triple threat of COVID-19, RSV, and influenza surges this winter, and new treatments and vaccinations are being developed and administered across the country, attention around the importance of clinical trial participation has resurfaced. Who are these treatments safe and effective for? Black participation in clinical research historically has been and remains lower than […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
Holiday Travel Is Risky This Year. Here’s How to Stay Safe During the ‘Tripledemic.’
Winter viruses have been surging in recent weeks, in the midst of the year’s busiest travel season. As families prepare to crowd onto planes and gather at holiday dinner tables, overcrowded emergency rooms from Philadelphia to Los Angeles are grappling with hours-long wait times and record-high patient admissions. The rush has been largely fueled by […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity, Partner Content
Racial Disparities in Lung Cancer Start With Research
During a routine visit to the Good Samaritan Clinic in Morganton, North Carolina, in 2018, Herbert Buff casually mentioned that he sometimes had trouble breathing. He was 55 years old and a decades-long smoker. So the doctor recommended that Buff schedule time on a 35-foot-long bus operated by the Levine Cancer Institute that would roll […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Clinicians Dismiss Black Women’s Pain. The Consequences Are Dire.
This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The bottle of vodka sat unopened. It was the largest one Cheryl McJoy could find. If she drank it, she thought, maybe the stabbing sensations in her body would stop. “I […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
Diabetes Diagnoses Doubled for Black Youth During the Pandemic
Diagnosis of type 2 diabetes doubled among Black children during the first year of the pandemic but decreased among white youth, according to a new study. The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic also saw a higher proportion of young diabetes patients with severe symptoms compared to years prior. The trend suggests that the racial […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
Black Americans Are Disproportionately Affected By Monkeypox. U.S. Officials Failed To Mention It.
The Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency on Thursday, but during the 40-minute media call for that announcement, federal officials never mentioned the virus’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans. It’s an absence that harks back to the first weeks of the coronavirus when, in the spring of 2020, Black people were dying at […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
America’s Opioid Epidemic Is Devastating Black Communities
The first victims of the country’s opioid epidemic were predominantly white, living in rural communities devastated by prescription painkiller addiction. With doctors less likely to prescribe adequate pain medication to Black patients, racism protected Black Americans from the first wave of opioid deaths. Now, the face of the epidemic has changed. New federal data points […]
Posted inHealth, Reproductive Health
Has The Black Church Evolved on Abortion?
The Rev. Leonard Edloe doesn’t discuss abortion in the pulpit of his rural Virginia church. While the issue disproportionately affects Black women, members at New Hope Fellowship haven’t shared any abortion-related concerns or questions with him, he said. But outside of the church walls, some have come to him seeking guidance about the procedure. Edloe […]
Posted inHealth
Why Gun Violence Is a Public Health Crisis
The stray bullet that ripped through Greg Jackson’s leg as he walked home in Washington, D.C., struck two arteries. The 2013 incident, which led to a 21-day hospital stay and a six-month recovery, began with law enforcement by his bedside in the emergency room. “I was questioned and interrogated before I even met my nurse […]
