The HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) recently published the white paper Engaging Youth and Young Adults in Community-Based Strategies to Improve Health Literacy, focusing on involving youth and young adults in community-based public health campaigns to improve health literacy and reduce health disparities.

The paper explores federal actions addressing health literacy and the work grantees have completed through funding from OMH involving youth leadership and training for potential community health workers.

As part of the release, OMH and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) invites you to join tomorrow’s workshop, Engaging Community Health Workers/Youth Ambassadors to Improve Health Literacy, featuring recipients of OMH grant programs, Advancing Health Literacy to Enhance Equitable Community Responses to COVID-19 and the National Infrastructure for Mitigating the Impact of COVID-19 within Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities.
April 20, at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Read the White Paper  Register for the Workshop

Join the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) and its partners for a webinar highlighting federal efforts to promote health equity and culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS), as well as implementation efforts of local governments to address disparities experienced by vulnerable populations and communities through evidence-based health literacy strategies.
April 21, at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Register

The MPhA Federal Pharmacist Network (MPhA-FPN) is hosting a 6.2-mile (10K)/1-mile hike at the Sugarloaf Mountain Northern Peaks Trails in honor of National Minority Health Month to bring awareness to the health disparities that continue to affect people from racial and ethnic minority groups and encourage action through health education, early detection, and control of disease complications. Snacks and water will be provided.
April 22, at 9:00 a.m. ET, in Dickerson, Maryland.

Register

Join the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) and its partners for a Facebook Live broadcast that will feature a panel discussion on:

• Effectively organizing an inclusive national network.
• Best practices for communicating accurate information to patients.
• Strategies for outreach that are culturally competent and inclusive of diverse populations.

Follow OMH on Facebook for more updates and to join in on the conversation. 
April 27, at 4:00 p.m. ET.

Join via Facebook Live

Every year during National Donate Life Month, people across the U.S. celebrate the hope organ donors give to the more than 104,000 men, women, and children in need of a life-saving organ transplant. One donor can save eight lives and enhance the lives of up to 75 others!

Help hope spring, by encouraging your communities to sign up as organ, eye, and tissue donors.

Sign Up to Be an Organ Donor    Inscríbase como donante de órganos

Longstanding structural discrimination experienced by American Indian and Alaska Native communities have caused disparities in opportunities like education, jobs, and health care, among many others.

The report Health Equity in Indian Country: Rethinking How the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Approaches Health Equity for American Indians and Alaska Natives from the National Indian Health Board (NIHB) focuses on how the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), can more effectively advance health equity for American Indians and Alaska Natives.

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In support of improving patient care, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers a course for public health professionals on the importance of health literacy and their role in providing health information and services and promoting public health literacy.

Participants can earn continuing education (CE) credits upon completing the course.

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In both 2020 and 2021, Non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native people had the highest drug overdose death rates. The NIH HEAL Initiative® is a trans-agency effort to speed scientific solutions to stem the national opioid public health crisis.

The 2023 annual report outlines the diverse work under the HEAL Initiative such as a HEAL-funded study that is testing culturally appropriate methods for integrating the use of medications into treatments for opioid use disorder in American Indian/Alaska Native communities hosted a collaborative board meeting with tribal Elders, cultural leaders, and other stakeholders from this population that have been especially affected by the opioid crisis.  

Learn More   Download the Full Report (PDF)