Congresswoman leads push to address health disparities in Black men, boys

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A Florida Democratic Congresswoman who chairs the Caucus on the Commission of the Social Status of Black Men and Boys will join Howard University to host a briefing on health disparities on Thursday, July 27, at 3 p.m. CST inside the U.S. Capitol.

Bringing together experts and impacted people, the briefing “aims to foster a comprehensive dialogue on the root causes of these disparities and explore effective strategies for reducing the gap in health outcomes,” according to a press release.

Formed in 2020, the Commission on the Social Status of Black men and boys falls within the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The group works to investigate potential civil rights violating affecting Black men and boys, along with studying health disparities they face in “education, criminal justice, health, employment, fatherhood, mentorship, and violence,” according to their website.

Briefing on health disparities in Black men and boys

Congresswoman Wilson, D-Fl, who recently joined her Black Caucus colleagues in condemning Florida’s new Black history education standards, remains determined to reverse negative health trends that continue to afflict Black males.

“Structural racism, mass incarceration, segregation, gun violence, police violence, and various other factors have contributed to the disproportionately poor health profile experienced by Black men in the United States,” her office stated.

Listing various health disparities, the Congresswoman and her partners noted how Black men are more likely to contract and die from diseases at higher rates than most other races, including: diabetes, hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular conditions.

“The health of Black men continues to be worse than that of nearly all other groups in the United States,” according to a report from the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine. “On average, Black men die more than 7 years earlier than do US women of all races, and Black men die younger than all other groups of men, except Native Americans.”

Addressing a critical issue

While efforts to address missing and murdered Indigenous women and missing and murdered Black women have gained new attention and government resources in recent years, Black men and boys continue to face higher rates of suicide with little efforts to address them.

According to the release, Thursday’s event will feature a panel of distinguished speakers from medicine, public health, academia, and community advocacy, who will share their insights, research findings, and recommendations to address this critical issue.

Practitioners from Howard University and the Young Doctors Project will provide free health screenings to the public after the briefing.