When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, the media flooded with cases of women who had been denied abortion care during emergency situations, putting their lives at risk. Whether pregnant patients have the constitutional right to abortion care when their health is severely at risk is at the heart of Idaho […]
health disparities
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
When Algorithms and AI Perpetuate Medical Racism, Who’s Responsible?
When the coronavirus spread violently through the nation, disproportionately burdening Black communities, it was in some grim way the perfect reminder of why Dr. Noha Aboelata had founded her community clinic in East Oakland, California, more than a decade prior. In Alameda County, where she was located, Black folks were dying at a rate much […]
Posted inHealth
The Lessons Medical School Never Taught Her
In the midst of the coronavirus’ devastation and the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, America was confronting a reckoning on race, and Dr. Uché Blackstock emerged as an authority on how racism was affecting health outcomes. COVID-19 was disproportionately burdening Black communities across the country, and the data shocked some Americans. Black people […]
Posted inHealth, Mental Health
Amid Trauma, Black Americans Are Choosing to Heal
This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. CHICAGO — As they sat on the two chairs in Courtney G. Smith’s living room, they bounced between laughter and deep thought. For at least an hour, they contemplated how past traumas […]
Posted inHealth, Partner Content
The Cosmetic Industry’s Toxic Toll on Black Women
Dereliction of Beauty: First in a series from Inside Climate News on how lax regulation of beauty care products victimizes women of color. ICN is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. For Jeanette Toomer, the hours she used to spend to ensure that […]
Posted inHealth, Health Equity
STI Rates Are Rising. What Should You Know?
Recent upticks in the rates of sexually transmitted infections continue to expose deep racial disparities in the American maternal health care system, from syphilis and HIV to gonorrhea. It’s been well-documented that Black Americans are disproportionately affected by STIs. This is due in large part to systemic barriers to quality health care, such as having […]
Posted inHealth, Mental Health
What’s Driving Black Kids to the ER?
This story contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Black children and adolescents have the highest rate of mental health-related emergency department visits, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this week. It’s an […]
Posted inCOVID-19, Health
The New COVID-19 Vaccine Is Rolling Out. Here’s What Black Americans Should Know.
Amid the recent uptick in COVID hospitalizations, a new round of vaccines is being introduced. The shots could be particularly important for Black Americans, who have continued to show an increased risk for severe complications from the virus. Although much smaller than past spikes, COVID deaths have risen above 1,000 per week this month and […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
In Chicago, Environmental Justice Was Birthed by a Black Woman. A New Podcast Tells Her Story.
Like many Black women throughout the history of social movements, Hazel Johnson’s contributions to bettering her community on the South Side of Chicago — and the rest of the country — are often forgotten. But in the 1970s and 1980s, when industrial polluters largely evaded consequences, the Altgeld Gardens public housing resident was one of […]
Posted inHealth
Why Promising New Alzheimer’s Drugs May Not Work as Well in Black Americans
Over the past decade, Jessica Guthrie has created systems and routines that include bright sticky notes and weeks worth of meal prep. Her playbook evolves with each chapter of her mom’s disease. There are personality shifts, paranoia, and talking to unknown people in the mirror. Then, the falls that result in calls to the fire […]