By Mylika Scatliffe, AFRO Women’s Health Writer, mscatliffe@afro.com October is National Family History Month. Gathering family together for activities like creating family trees and hearing unique family history and lore can be an exciting way to recognize the month. Attending a family reunion, visiting the family matriarch or spending time with a great-grandfather may spark […]
Category: Health
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Black women and reproductive freedom meet a crossroad in the fight for abortion rights
By Deborah Bailey, Contributing Editor Planned Parenthood is doing the extra work to make it known that Black women are at the heart of the fight for reproductive freedom. Planned Parenthood Federation, whose network of clinics serves 400,000 Black women each year, has organized a “Stand for Black Women” campaign, designed to send a message […]
Posted inNational News
The Moore Report: Undrinkable water in Jackson, Miss, and Brett Favre ‘Robin Hood in reverse’ scheme with TANF funds
By Ralph E. Moore Jr., Special to the AFRO It is outrageous! If you speak to longtime residents of Jackson, Miss. You learn that their water system has been unreliable and has produced increasingly undrinkable water for decades until the system completely failed this summer. In case you missed it, there was a water crisis […]
Posted inHealth
Brazilian butt lifts have taken Black culture by storm–but is this popular cosmetic surgical trend safe?
By Mylika Scatliffe, AFRO Women’s Health Writer, mscatliffe@afro.com Coke bottle, brick house, hourglass– all of these terms have been used to describe a desirable feminine figure and evoke a certain image. Today, social media feeds and reality television shows are filled with images and videos of celebrity influencers that contribute to the growing trend of […]
Posted inHealth
Local officials working to improve access to menstrual supplies in public schools
By Mylika Scatliffe, AFRO Women’s Health Writer, mscatliffe@afro.com When Brooke Pinto worked in the Office of the Attorney General in the District of Columbia she promised that if she was ever in a position to do so she would do her part to eliminate period poverty. As defined by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Policy […]
Posted inHealth
The power of music in fighting Alzheimer’s symptoms
By Word In Black It’s no question that at some point in your life, you’ve had a song melody stuck in your head. Maybe you were at a family gathering, and The Wiz was on the TV. Or perhaps you were cleaning out your car and found an old cassette tape. Studies show that music […]
Posted inWord In Black
Advocating for LGBTQ+ elders
By Tandy Lau, Word In Black The first time Ty Martin stepped into the newly built Whole Foods on 125th and Malcolm X Boulevard, he thought he was in Chelsea on account of the grand assortment of young, gay White men present. Harlem certainly looks different from his childhood days. Martin, 74, grew up in […]
Posted inHealth
The ‘silent killer’ behind strokes in the Black community
By Alexa Spencer, Word In Black As a medical doctor of over 30 years who focuses on African-American health, Dr. Gregory Hall doesn’t mess around when it comes to managing high blood pressure. The Cleveland, Ohio-based physician and professor say the condition — also known as hypertension — is the main reason people experience strokes. […]
Posted inWashington D.C. News
Community leaders highlight the urgent need to provide mental health support for Black men and boys
By Reginald Williams, Special to the AFRO “Who else’s son has to die before we see the urgency in the Black and Brown male agenda?” That was the question posed by Martina Van Norden, a mother of two Black sons and passionate educator to a generation of Black and Brown boys. Van Norden is a […]
Posted inWord In Black
Free and reduced meal no longer automatic, public schools now accepting applications year round
By Deborah Bailey, Contributing Editor We are still in a global COVID-19 pandemic, but with many returning to pre-pandemic routines, most school schedules across the nation have also returned to the pre-pandemic area. That means that school meals nationwide are no longer automatically free. Parents must now sign up and qualify for free school lunches, […]
Posted inHealth
Study shows link between experiences of racism and poor memory, cognitive decline
By Mylika Scatliffe, AFRO Women’s Health Writer, mscatliffe@afro.com Prior to Steven Owens taking his retirement in 2018 he was an engineer. The 59-year-old who once built satellites for launch into outer space also played the guitar and saxophone. That was before his diagnosis. On Valentine’s Day 2017, Owens was told that he had early onset […]
Posted inCommentary
Black men are still disproportionately affected by prostate cancer– it’s time to act
By Kai Li, MD September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month, a perfect occasion to focus on prostate cancer risk factors and prevention. This is particularly urgent for Black men, who are 1.7 times more likely to develop prostate cancer and more than twice as likely to die from it than all other racial or ethnic […]
