Browse Tag by Black Women and Chronic Illness
Black Women's Health Updates

Black Women’s Health Update – August 14, 2024

Welcome! Below is a selection of the latest research and updates related to Black women’s health.

In addition to the studies and reports below, I lift up the lived experiences of Black women, experiences which have often already confirmed for us what the studies and articles report.

To be reminded of the latest updates, please sign up here for my monthly newsletter.


The American Cancer Society has launched VOICES of Black Women, a study enrolling over 100,000 Black women between the ages of 25 and 55. The largest study of its kind, it will focus on behavioral and environmental cancer risks and outcomes, to better understand how the lived experiences of Black women may affect their cancer risk or mortality.


Researchers at Northwestern Medicine and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have identified a cause for lupus – a cellular defect that appears to drive the disease process. Their study shows that reversing the defect may reverse the disease.

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Black Women's Health Updates

Black Women’s Health Update – April 23, 2024

Welcome! Below is a selection of the latest research and updates related to Black women’s health.

In addition to the studies and reports below, I lift up the lived experiences of Black women, experiences which have often already confirmed for us what the studies and articles report.

To be reminded of the latest updates, sign up here for my monthly newsletter.

Let’s get into these updates!


In a huge milestone for patient consent, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued guidance requiring medical providers to obtain patient’s written consent before any intimate examinations, particularly if they are done on patients under anesthesia. Yale University bioethics researchers found that Black patients are four times more likely than white patients to report having received unconsented pelvic or prostate exams.

“Informed consent includes the right to refuse consent for sensitive examinations conducted for teaching purposes and the right to refuse to consent to any previously unagreed examinations to treatment while under anesthesia,” noted the letter.


A new study found that when patients belong to minority racial and ethnic groups, their patient portal messages to their provider were de-prioritized; they were less likely to receive a physician response and more likely to receive a response from a nurse.

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Black Women's Health Updates

Black Women’s Health Update – March 18, 2024

Hi! Thanks for being here.

Below is a selection of the latest research and updates related to Black women’s health. Just as important as these studies and reports are the lived experiences of Black women, which are valid evidence in and of themselves. These studies often confirm what we already know, because we are living and experiencing it.


At Miami conference, presentation connects racial disparities in treatment and care with Black women’s drastically higher rate of dying of breast cancer

At the 2024 Miami Breast Cancer Conference this month, radiation oncologist Dr. Reshma Jagsi presented on disparities in breast cancer treatment for Black women. Noting that Black women in the U.S. have a death rate from breast cancer that is 40% higher than that of white women, she detailed how these disparities might come from specific racial disparities in care and treatment, such as Black women’s likelihood of receiving less efficient and more toxic radiotherapy treatment regimens. “In order to respect human dignity, we cannot allow these disparities to persist,” Jagsi said.


New software to combat health inequities is being rolled out

A health equity software program called Truity has been designed to help combat bias,  institutionalized racism, and the resulting inequities in patient care. It’s used in real time by physicians, helping to guide their decisions in patient care and treatment. Mayo Clinic and Morehouse School of Medicine are among the institutions beginning to use the platform.

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Black Women's Health Updates

Black Women’s Health Update – March 2, 2024

Here’s the latest selection of research and updates related to Black women’s health:

Revealing Disparities: Health Care Workers’ Observations of Discrimination Against Patients

The Commonwealth Fund has released the results of a study on discrimination against patients in health care settings. It shows that nearly half of all health care workers have witnessed this discrimination; workers at healthcare facilities with mostly Black or Latino patients witness discrimination at higher rates; and half of healthcare workers say racism against patients is a major problem. The report includes recommendations for change.


Potential link between high maternal cortisol, unpredicted birth complications

A study in Psychoneuroendocrinology indicates that pregnant patients with higher cortisol levels also had higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression – and these higher cortisol levels were also linked to higher levels of unpredicted birth complications during pregnancy and in the early postpartum period. This has implications for the maternal mortality crisis disproportionately impacting Black women in the United States.

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Black Women's Health Updates

Black Women’s Health Update – February 16, 2024

I’m excited to share a new series of posts here – a regular listing of research, updates, and resources about Black women’s health and wellness. I’ll be including a selection of these updates in my monthly newsletter, so please sign up here if you’d like to receive these automatically in your inbox.

As a Black women who lives with chronic illness and who has had extensive involvement with the industrialized medical system in the U.S., I am well aware of the challenges Black women are facing when it comes to our health, as well as the systemic racism embedded in the very system that is supposed to provide care.

Not enough is shared about the state of Black women’s health – neither among Black women nor in broader societal conversations around health and wellness. It’s critical that we start lifting up the conditions affecting Black women, and moving toward better outcomes and improved lives.


Here’s the latest roundup of news:

‘I was terrified’: Black women may prefer Black OB-GYNs due to fear of discrimination, dying during pregnancy [NBC News]

A small study has indicated that pregnant Black women prefer seeing a Black obstetrician but may have a hard time finding one. The article also notes:

“Black women’s fear of dying during pregnancy and childbirth is a reflection of real-life risks. The maternal mortality rate of Black women in 2021 was 2.6 times higher than the rate of white women, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A 2022 report by the Pew Research Center also found that 71% of Black women ages 18 to 49 reported having at least one negative experience with health care providers in the past.”


Congressional leaders reintroduce bipartisan Protect Black Women and Girls Act [The Hill]

A bipartisan group of lawmakers has reintroduced a bill that would establish a task force to examine the conditions and experiences of Black women and girls in America – including racial disparities in health care, salary and education.


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