White Coats for Black Lives

To dismantle racism in medicine and promote the health, well-being, and self-determination of people of color.

  Black Women's Health Imperative

We target the most pressing health issues that affect Black women and girls in the U.S. through investments in evidence based strategies, bold programs and advocacy outreach on health policies.

  BlackHealthMatters.com

Black Health Matters will provide information about health and well-being from a service-oriented perspective–with lots of upbeat, positive solutions and tips.

  How racism in US health system hinders care and costs lives of African Americans

Health inequity for African Americans is not a new phenomenon. COVID-19, however, shined a light on the problem. Racism is not isolated to health care services, and it remains pervasive throughout our society. But by taking the tangible steps outlined here, providers can begin to solve the problem.

  Why Black Americans experience disparities in healthcare

When receiving healthcare people would think this is a time that all people would be treated equally however this is not always the case. To understand the division in healthcare certain factors, need to be explained, starting with implicit bias and history.

  Why Coronavirus Is Killing African-Americans More Than Others

Higher rates of infection and death among minorities demonstrate the racial character of inequality in America.

  With painstaking effort, Black doctors’ group takes aim at Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy

Racism in the health care system is part of the reason that the NMA exists. The American Medical Association, which set standards for the profession, repeatedly denied membership to Black doctors — so in 1895, they founded a group of their own, “conceived in no spirit of racial exclusiveness, fostering no ethnic antagonisms, but born out of the exigency of the American environment.”

  A Top Immunologist on Why Coronavirus Is Killing More African-Americans

As more data reveals the disproportionate rate at which African-Americans are being infected with and dying from the novel coronavirus, Dr. Hildreth sees opportunities missed and warnings ignored.

  Black History Month: Can digital tech help remedy health disparities for black people?

First acknowledged in the UK in 1987, Black History Month has always been somewhat celebrated and recognised as a core part of British history. However, this year has forced the world to see the reality of black history and racism like never before. This change has been propelled forward by a series of catalytic global events such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the Windrush generation, the seismic global call for action since the death of George Floyd in May 2020, and of course the number of black people dying disproportionately in the pandemic.

  Coronavirus Has Exposed The World To Health Disparities In Black America: So What Now?

By now the world knows coronavirus disproportionately affects black and brown communities in the US.

  Doctors and nurses are on the front lines of protests despite the coronavirus: 'Racism has been killing our patients since the hospital was built'

Healthcare workers are also joining the protests because they're combating the same disparities they see in their work. Both the novel coronavirus and police brutality have disproportionately affected people of color.

  Dying while black: Perpetual gaps exist in health care for African-Americans

Gaps while living, gaps while dying It is well documented that African-Americans experience excess mortality, or deaths beyond the expected mortality rate. However, even if disparities in the mortality rate for African-Americans were rectified tomorrow, the fact remains that we will all eventually die. And how we die matters.

  Racial health disparities already existed in America— the coronavirus just exacerbated them

For black Americans who do have access to health insurance, going to the doctor is not always a smooth process as there has been a long-standing distrust between black patients and medical professionals. This distrust, according to many experts, is linked to the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment in 1932 where the U.S. Public Health Service used black men to conduct a secret study on the progression of the deadly syphilis disease in order to find a treatment.

  The Never-Ending Mistreatment of Black Patients

For most of their lives, many African-Americans don’t get enough medical care. At the end, they get too much.

  Why We Need More Black Doctors—and How to Get There

Valerie Montgomery Rice, head of Morehouse School of Medicine, on training the next generation of physicians, and how to bring more Black men into the field

  Will Covid-19 Be a Turning Point in the Fight Against Racial Disparities in Health Care?

Public health experts hope that the vast scale of the crisis will prompt meaningful political action to counter health inequities, which have been persistent in America for well over a century.

  ‘The direct result of racism’: Covid-19 lays bare how discrimination drives health disparities among Black people

The demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis have prompted a reckoning over racism and police brutality. But, among those in the medical communities, there have also been calls for urgent action to address the role that systemic racism plays in health disparities among Black people.

 Being Black in America Is a Health Risk. It's Time for Reparations.

Cash would not only be a form of repayment, it would also undeniably improve people's health.

 Public Health Experts Say the Pandemic Is Exactly Why Protests Must Continue

In the long term, breaking down structural racism is an unequivocal public health good.

A Generation of Bad Blood

New research suggests a strong link between the public revelation of the Tuskegee Study and poor health outcomes for black men.

Why America’s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis

The answer to the disparity in death rates has everything to do with the lived experience of being a black woman in America.

A Health Care Algorithm Offered Less Care to Black Patients

A study shows the risks of making decisions using data that reflects inequities in American society.

America's brutal black-white health gap: why black men can expect to live 5 years less than white men

The truth is this: even today, in America, white privilege works better than most medicine when it comes to staying healthy. Racial health disparities may be a more subtle killer than gun violence or murder, but they're arguably a more violent one. They infect every part of the body, and they strike at literally every stage of life, from cradle to grave.

America's Health Segregation Problem

Has the country done enough to overcome its Jim Crow health care history?

Being Black in America Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

n Baltimore and other segregated cities, the life-expectancy gap between African Americans and whites is as much as 20 years. One young woman’s struggle shows why.

Black and Hispanic women in the US are having more premature babies

More babies in the US are being born prematurely—a trend that’s linked to the state of racial inequality in America today.

Black Health Matters

The first bloom appeared in the crease of my right elbow, an itchy cluster that I ignored. It was well into summer, so I wrote it off as heat rash, or something similarly seasonal. But then it started to spread. The topography of my body transformed into a foreign mess of hives and scaly patches.

Does a white doctor understand a black patient's pain?

Does the blood of black people clot more readily than that of white people? Does a black person's skin generally have more collagen--is it thicker--than a white person's? Are black people better at detecting movement than white people, and do they age more slowly? If you are white and said yes -- or even maybe -- to any of the questions above, you are not alone in falling prey to false beliefs about physiological differences between white and black people.

Does Sickle Cell Disease Expose Racism in American Healthcare?

Unlike other diseases, the mortality rate from sickle cell disease is on the rise. When you consider that the majority of these patients are African-American, perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised.

Finding Good Pain Treatment Is Hard. If You’re Not White, It’s Even Harder

The experience of African-Americans, like Ms. Lewis, and other minorities illustrates a problem as persistent as it is complex: Minorities tend to receive less treatment for pain than whites, and suffer more disability as a result.

From Breastfeeding To Beyoncé, 'Skimmed' Tells A New Story About Black Motherhood

To explain the persistence of lower rates of breastfeeding among black mothers, we should look to systemic and historic factors rather than individual choice.

Health Inequality Actually Is a “Black and White Issue”, Research Says

Yes, Americans can legally vote in elections, go to school or assemble in groups to peacefully protest. However, true equality goes beyond laws and policies. From inadequate access to fresh food and clean water, to screening in early stages of disease or the inability to rent an apartment because of discriminatory housing practices, these long standing systemic inequities for some black Americans can have long lasting effects on health.

Health is Wealth: 5 Deadly Health Issues for African Americans

Blacks face alarming differences compared to all other racial and ethnic groups.

How Racism Is Bad for Our Bodies

A growing literature shows discrimination raises the risk of many emotional and physical problems. Discrimination has been shown to increase the risk of stress, depression, the common cold, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and mortality.

I Dream Of Healthy Black Futures

Healthcare is a human right. No one should be denied the opportunity to see a doctor because of how much money is in their pocket or where they live. Our loved ones shouldn’t die from easily curable diseases simply because they can’t afford medicine. Black lives matter.

Inside The Fight To End The Black Maternal Health Crisis

Racial disparities in maternal health have not improved in three decades. Regardless of educational attainment and income, Black women and their children are at risk.

Medicine's Unrelenting Race Gap

New studies show just how seriously racial disparities continue to manifest in healthcare—and what can be done.

Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans

The American health care system in beset with inequalities that have a disproportionate impact on people of color and other marginalized groups. These inequalities contribute to gaps in health insurance coverage, uneven access to services, and poorer health outcomes among certain populations. African Americans bear the brunt of these health care challenges.

Restoring trust in medical research among African-Americans

When it comes to medical research, informed consent is a touchy subject among African-Americans. This essential component of research, which basically says, “I understand the work you are doing and agree to take part in it,” was long ignored for African-Americans. Many in the research community have worked tirelessly to make medical research less suspicious and more engaging for this community.

Rich black people have worse health than rich white people

Enduring personal and institutional racism means that African Americans and other ethnic minorities are faring worse than white people. For those groups, even a high income can’t buy better health, according to other new research.

Stop Blaming Black Women for the Black Maternal Health Crisis and Start Blaming American Workplaces

How America’s deteriorating work conditions contribute to skyrocketing infant mortality in the black community.

The Case for Black Doctors

In an ideal world, the race of the patient or physician wouldn’t matter; we would all treat each other strictly as individuals. But we’re quite a ways from reaching that exalted goal. For now, we have to attack the problem of racial health disparities from as many angles as possible. Black doctors are an important part of this mission.

The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of African-American Mortality In The US

“It’s better than it used to be” may have been good enough after the Civil War ended 150 years ago but it’s not good enough now. Any report or article that addresses disparities in mortality between African and white Americans should consist of a single sentence: “There are no disparities.” Anything less is a national disgrace

The Health Challenges in the Black Community

Why do we have these tremendous disparities? There are multiple reasons. These include less access to health care, lower quality hospitals and medical personnel in areas where black people live, bias in the health care system, as well as some distrust of the medical community.

The US medical system is still haunted by slavery

Medicine’s dark history helps explain why black mothers are dying at alarming rates.

Too many black women like Erica Garner are dying in America’s maternal mortality crisis

Garner may have been the victim of the stress of trauma and poor health care for black women.

What Serena Williams’s scary childbirth story says about medical treatment of black women

Black women are often dismissed or ignored by medical care providers. Williams wasn’t an exception.

Why giving birth in the U.S. is surprisingly deadly

Black mothers are particularly at risk. Better basic care could help.

Why Health Care Is Different If You're Black, Latino Or Poor

The country is in a state of health care denial. Politicians, pundits and executives proudly declare America’s medical care is the best in the world. But it isn't. The U.S. lags behind other industrialized nations in many important health measures – partly because citizens of certain races, ethnicities and incomes experience poorer versions of U.S. health care than others. The disparities are glaring.