By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
The American Heart Association (AHA) partnered with the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) to host a dialogue on addressing health disparities that Black Americans face and transforming the future of health in their communities. The symposium, which took place virtually on Feb. 13, marked the first time a major corporation selected the Black Press for an exclusive broadcast on a critical health initiative.
Media and health leaders, including Dr. Regina Benjamin, the 18th U.S. surgeon general and founder of the Bayou Clinic; Dr. Keith Churchwell, president of AHA; Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president and CEO of NNPA; and April Ryan, senior White House correspondent and Washington Bureau chief for BlackPressUSA.com; led the conversation.
Heart health is a significant issue in the Black community. According to the AHA, Black adults represent more than 50 percent of heart failure hospitalizations among U.S. adults under age 50.
“In the African-American community, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death. Between 2017 and 2020, almost 59 percent of Black males and Black women greater than the age of 20 had some form of cardiovascular disease, including coronary disease, stroke and hypertension,” said Churchwell. “From data that we have available to us in 2022, almost 65,000 Black men and 59,000 Black women died from cardiovascular disease. The incidence of hypertension in the population in total is about 47 percent, but in the Black community 57 percent of men have hypertension and 58 percent of women have hypertension, which is the leading risk factor and cause of heart disease and stroke.”
Social determinants of health are a large contributor to the health disparities seen in the Black community, including cardiovascular inequities. These drivers refer to the conditions in which people are born, live, work, play and age.
Benjamin, who served under former President Barack Obama as the surgeon general, explained that social determinants of health impact the care people have access to, especially in African-American communities. They can also influence a person’s life span. It is in understanding these drivers that progress can be made in improving public health and fending off poor health outcomes, according to Benjamin.
“Prevention is the foundation of public health,” said Benjamin. “We have to help people understand that staying healthy depends on other factors that influence our health, like housing, transportation, education, the availability of quality, affordable food, our workplaces and our environment.”
The symposium also highlighted the role of the Black Press in raising awareness about cardiovascular health. Chavis, who has led the NNPA since 2014, spoke on the importance of delivering accurate health information to Black communities, especially as misinformation and disinformation overruns social media platforms and messaging from the White House.
“We live in a society where there’s denial of science. They deny climate change, environmental exposures, racism and discrimination. They come up with all of these schemes to try to make us feel like there’s something wrong with us when we demand freedom, justice and equality,” said Chavis. “There’s nothing wrong with us. There’s something wrong with the system that denies us freedom, justice and equality.”
He emphasized that collaborations, like the one between the AHA and NNPA, are critical to arming Black people with information that could improve their health and even save their lives.
“Nothing should take our attention away from the health, repair and restoration of our hearts in our community,” said Chavis. “Rest assured, the Black Press is going to continue to drill this home, report on it and give the data. Our people are hungry and thirsty for information that’s accurate.”
