African American health

Map of cases and deaths from the coronavirus among African Americans

Health & Safety

What Do Coronavirus Racial Disparities Look Like State By State?

12:28pm May 30, 2020

NPR's analysis shows just how stark the impact has been on African-Americans and Latinos. Experts say the pandemic will go on — for everyone — unless we direct resources where they're most needed.

A hospital patient in Stamford, Conn., who has COVID-19 symptoms gets his temperature checked. Severe infections with the novel coronavirus have been unusually high among African Americans and Latinos in many hospitals.

Health & Safety

Opinion: U.S. Must Avoid Building Racial Bias Into COVID-19 Emergency Guidance

7:00am April 21, 2020

States are releasing "Crisis Standards of Care" guidelines, aimed at helping desperate hospitals discern how to allocate scarce resources. But the guidance doesn't factor in health care inequalities.

from local story: "Sickle cell pain has a mind of its own," said Anesha Barnes, who's had the disease since she was a baby. She says the longer she stays in a pain crisis, the harder it is to break out of it.

Effort To Control Opioids In An ER Leaves Some Sickle Cell Patients In Pain

4:29pm January 02, 2020

by Sam Whitehead

People with sickle cell disease aren't fueling the opioid crisis, research shows. Yet some ER doctors still treat patients seeking relief for agonizing sickle cell crises as potential addicts.

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Conceptual illustration of deciduous tree depicting Alzheimer's disease.

Health & Safety

Scientists Reach Out To Minority Communities To Diversify Alzheimer's Studies

9:00pm December 17, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Black and Hispanic people often don't volunteer for studies of Alzheimer's disease, despite their risks for developing it. Researchers are working to make studies more inclusive, but it's not easy.

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Hair dyes and straighteners contain chemicals that are being studied for their health effects.

Health & Safety

Hair Dyes And Straighteners Linked To Higher Cancer Risk, Especially For Black Women

7:37pm December 04, 2019

by Patti Neighmond

Many women get their hair dyed or straightened regularly with products that contain thousands of chemicals. Researchers are teasing out whether our hair habits could be raising our breast cancer risk.

Mahmee CEO Melissa Hanna (right) and her mother Linda Hanna (left) co-founded the company in 2014. Linda's more than 40 years of clinical experience as a registered nurse and certified lactation consultant helped them understand the need, they say.

This App Aims To Save New Moms' Lives

7:55am August 18, 2019

The startup Mahmee hopes to help OB-GYNs, pediatricians and other health providers closely monitor a mother and baby's health so that any red flags can be assessed before they become life-threatening.

Altovise Ewing, who has a doctorate in human genetics and counseling, now works as a genetic counselor and researcher at 23andMe, one of the largest direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies, based in Mountain View, Calif.

Genetic Counselors Of Color Tackle Racial, Ethnic Disparities In Health Care

8:11am July 27, 2019

by Erika Stallings

They work with patients to decide when genetic testing is appropriate, interpret test results and counsel families on the ways hereditary diseases might impact them. A trusting relationship is key.

Dramatic decreases in deaths from lung cancer among African-Americans were particularly notable, according to the American Cancer Society.

Racial Disparities In Cancer Incidence And Survival Rates Are Narrowing

8:34pm February 14, 2019

by Patti Neighmond

African-Americans still have the highest death rate and the lowest survival rate of any U.S. racial or ethnic group for most cancers. But the "cancer gap" between blacks and whites is shrinking.

A colorized image of a brain cell from an Alzheimer's patient shows a neurofibrillary tangle (red) inside the cytoplasm (yellow) of the cell. The tangles consist primarily of a protein called tau.

Alzheimer's Disease May Develop Differently In African-Americans, Study Suggests

5:44pm January 07, 2019

by Jon Hamilton

Black Americans are more likely than whites to develop Alzheimer's. Yet black people studied appeared to have lower levels of a toxic substance associated with the disease, researchers say.

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Black men are twice as likely as whites to die from prostate cancer, one of the deadliest cancers that affect males.

Distrust Of Health Care System May Keep Black Men Away From Prostate Cancer Research

2:23pm October 17, 2018

by Rachel D. Cohen

Black men are hit hardest by prostate cancer, but they are underrepresented in research. Researchers held focus groups in three states to understand why.