April is National Minority Health Month! This annual observance builds awareness about the health disparities that persist among racial and ethnic minority and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) populations and encourages everyone to take action to end these inequities. The theme for 2024, Be the Source for Better Health: Improving Health Outcomes Through Our Cultures, Communities, and Connections, is about understanding how the unique environments, cultures, histories, and circumstances (known as social determinants of health or SDOH) of racial and ethnic minority and AI/AN populations impact their overall health.
The HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH) is committed to working with its public health and community-based partners to Be the Source for Better Health by providing quality, equitable, and respectful care and services that are responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, economic and environmental circumstances, and health literacy levels. This year’s theme focuses on two topics critical to advancing health equity: social determinants of health and cultural competency and humility.
SDOH impact nearly everyone in one way or another. Considering the conditions in the environments where people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age is fundamental to improving health and reducing longstanding disparities affecting racial and ethnic minority and AI/AN populations. Longstanding inequities in the five domains of SDOH influence a wide range of health risks and quality-of-life outcomes.
Visit the National Minority Health Month 2024 website to find resources, social media messages, graphics, and information on how to Be the Source for Better Health.
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April is National Donate Life Month, the perfect opportunity to join the millions of heroes who have signed up to give the incredible gift of life as organ, eye, and tissue donors. "Donors are Superstars" who bring hope and healing to those awaiting transplants.
In 2023, we witnessed a remarkable milestone with over 46,000 organ transplants performed. However, the need is still urgent. Nearly 104,000 individuals of every age, race, and ethnicity are on the national transplant waiting list, and many may not receive their miracle in time. Tragically, 17 lives are lost each day waiting for a transplant.
Your decision to sign up as a donor can light up the sky for someone in need, offering them a second chance at life. Visit organdonor.gov to become a beacon of hope and learn how you can make a difference.
To celebrate National Donate Life Month, the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Health Systems Bureau and Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs invite you to the National Donate Life Month: Stars of Hope Aligning for Life webinar on Tuesday, April 16 at 1 p.m. ET for insightful discussions led by donation advocates and representatives from key organizations dedicated to outreach efforts that spread awareness and encourage organ donor registration. Register now!
Let's encourage everyone to join this mission as organ, eye, and tissue donors. Together, we can align the stars for those in need and turn the tide of waiting into a wave of lifesaving miracles.
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April 1–7 is National Public Health Week (NPHW) led by the American Public Health Association (APHA). The 2024 NPHW theme is Protecting, Connecting and Thriving: We Are All Public Health, which aims to highlight every aspect of public health and give a framework for building partnerships and fostering connections locally and across the country.
During each day of NPHW, APHA will spotlight a daily topic related to the theme and identify ways each of us can make a difference. These topic areas are critical to supporting public health for individuals, families, communities, and the public health field.
Life expectancy in the United States varies greatly based on race and ethnicity. In 2022, overall life expectancy in years was 84.5 for Asian people, 80 for Latino people, 77.5 for white people, 72.8 for Black people, and 67.9 for American Indian/Alaska Native people. APHA’s mission is to improve the health of the public and achieve equity in health status for all Americans.
Here are some ways to get involved during NPHW:
Visit the NPHW website to find more information, resources, upcoming events, and a bilingual toolkit.
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World Health Day (WHD) is a global observance of health as a human right. This annual celebration marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) and draws attention to a specific health concern impacting people all over the world.
The WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All has found that at least 140 countries recognize health as a human right in their constitution but are not passing and putting into practice laws to ensure their populations can access the health services they’re entitled to. This highlights the fact that at least 4.5 billion people — more than half of the world’s population — were not fully covered by essential health services in 2021.
To address these types of challenges, the theme for World Health Day 2024 is 'My health, my right’. This year’s theme was chosen to champion the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to quality health services, education, and information, as well as safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent working and environmental conditions, and freedom from discrimination.
This WHD, check out WHO’s Health Inequality Data Repository for a comprehensive collection of global disaggregated data on population health and its determinants. The repository allows you to track health inequalities across population groups over time and breaks down data according to group characteristics, ranging from education level to race and ethnicity.
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National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day (NYHAAD) is observed each year on April 10 to educate the public about the impact of HIV and AIDS on young people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2021, Black and African American individuals age 13 and older represented approximately 12% of the U.S. population, but accounted for 40% of people with HIV. Hispanic/Latino persons age 13 and older represented 18% of the population but accounted for 25% of people with HIV.
Youth can better understand their risk and know how to protect themselves against HIV by following these recommended steps:
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Get educated. Learn the basic facts about HIV transmission, testing, and prevention.
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Get talking. Talk with parents, families, teachers, doctors, and other trusted adults about HIV and sexual health.
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Get tested for HIV. CDC recommends that everyone between the ages of 13 and 64 get tested for HIV at least once as part of routine health care.
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Get medicine. If you test positive for HIV, get support, seek treatment, and stay in care to remain healthy and prevent passing the virus to others.
For more information about HIV/AIDS prevention and treatments, testing services, and care campaigns for young people, visit the CDC NYHAAD webpage and check out the NYHAAD Fact Sheets.
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Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), April 11–17, is a week-long campaign led by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to build awareness, activism, and community-building to amplify the voices, perspectives, and lived experiences of Black mothers and birthing people.
This year’s theme, Our Bodies STILL Belong to Us: Reproductive Justice NOW!, speaks to the widespread restrictions on abortion care access coupled with rising cases of criminalization due to pregnancy loss continuing to widen the gaps of adverse maternal and birth outcomes in the United States.
According to the CDC, in 2021 the maternal mortality rate for non-Hispanic Black women was 69.9 deaths per 100,000 live births, 2.6 times the rate for non-Hispanic white women. Rates for Black women were significantly higher than rates for white and Hispanic women.
Improving maternal health and reducing the disparities in maternal health outcomes is a top priority for the Biden-Harris Administration. In 2022, a dozen federal agencies mobilized to develop and release the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis. This Blueprint outlines specific actions that the federal government is taking to improve maternal health across five priorities, ranging from increasing access to and coverage of high-quality maternal health services to expanding and diversifying the perinatal workforce.
To support the week-long observance, check out events you can get involved with, including the 2024 Black Maternal Health Walk and Block Party. Download the BMHW24 Toolkit for key messaging, events, shareable social media messages, graphics, and other materials.
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April is National Minority Health Month, and this year's theme is Be the Source for Better Health: Improving Health Outcomes Through Our Cultures, Communities, and Connections. In honor of this observance, the OMH Knowledge Center is sharing a collection of recent articles focused on the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that shape health outcomes (also known as social determinants of health, or SDOH). The collection's topics touch on the five domains of SDOH: economic stability, education access and quality, health care access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, and social and community context. Many of these resources are available online for free.
You can access this collection through the OMH Knowledge Center online catalog.
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