The Black Women's Health Imperative is a national, not-for-profit educational, advocacy and leadership development organization that's committed to eliminating the health disparities that exist for Black women. These five "Health Imperatives for Black Women" are guided by our mission - optimum health for Black women - and are reflected in every action step we take as an organization.

                               

1. Make Black women's health an imperative for federal and state governments and communities. Black women's lives are at risk. Historically, they have had the worst health on nearly every health index when compared to other groups of women, despite advances in medicine - and continue to die needlessly or to suffer unnecessarily from preventable and treatable causes. In its recent report, Unequal Treatment, the Institute of Medicine concluded that minority groups receive the poorest quality of care, even when they have health insurance, and that Black women receive the "poorest of the poor" care in comparison with White men, White women and even Black men. Lawmakers at every level must ensure that the latest and most aggressive diagnostic procedures and treatments are offered to Black women, to end even the appearance of sexism and racism.

African-American women make up 13.1% of all women in the US.

Mortality rates for African-American women are higher than any other racial/ethnic group for nearly every major cause of death including heart disease, lung cancer, cerebrovascular disease, breast cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.(1)

Arthritis:

Arthritis is the third most common chronic condition and the leading cause of activity limitation in African Americans.(2)

Autoimmune Disease:

	African American women are three times more likely than white women to get lupus.(3)
	African American women tend to have more severe disease than do white women. For example, African American women are more likely to suffer seizures and strokes.(3)
	The death rate from Lupus among black women rose by 70%. There was only a small increase in what was reported in the rate for white women.(4)

Cancer:

	African-Americans are more likely to develop cancer than any other racial/ethnic group in the United States.(5)
	African Americans are almost twice as likely to die of cancer than any other minority group, and 20% more likely than whites.(6)
	The frequency of premenopausal breast cancer in African-American women is twice the rate of Caucasians. Studies show that in most instances, that in African-American women, by age 40, the cancer has already spread.(7)
	Although the overall rate of breast cancer in African-American women is not as high as compared to white women, they suffer the highest death rate from the disease once detected.(7)
	Black women have the highest incidence of and mortality from colon and rectum cancer than any other ethnic or racial group.(8)
	Black women with ovarian carcinoma are at an increased risk of death compared with white women with the same disease.(9)
	While Hispanic women have almost 50% higher incidence rates of cervical cancer than black women, black women are 75% more likely to die from the disease.(8)

Diabetes:

	The prevalence of diabetes in African-American women is approximately 85 percent higher than Caucasian women.(10)
	15% of African American woman have diabetes, compared to 6.9% of white women.(11)
	Non-Hispanic black women aged 45-64 had more than twice the rate of undiagnosed diabetes as non-Hispanic white women the same age.(12)
	Non-Hispanic black women had the highest age-adjusted mortality rate (51.7 per 100,000) from diabetes in 1999.(13)
	Compared to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks have more than twice the incidence of end-stage renal disease.(14)

Heart Disease:

	Heart disease is the leading cause of death for black women in the U.S.(6)
	Black women have the highest age-adjusted mortality rate from heart disease.(6)
	The higher mortality rates of heart disease in black women seem to be the result of a higher proportion of black women exhibiting the risk factors for increased mortality-cigarette smoking, hypertension, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, inadequate physical activity, and obesity.(15)

HIV/AIDS:

	Among women, 71% of the 4500 newly diagnosed cases of HIV African American.(16)
	The AIDS case rate for black women is 20 times higher than for non-Hispanic white women, and more than three times higher than any other minority group.(17)
	Four times as many black women as any other racial or ethnic group of women die from HIV disease.(6)

Mental Health:

	Almost two thirds of black, Hispanic, and Asian women who perceived a need to see a mental health professional did not see one in the past year compared to 35% of white women.(18)

Reproductive Health:

	Black women have a much higher pregnancy related death rate compared to white or Hispanic women.(18)

Sickle Cell Disease:

Sickle Cell Disease, an inherited blood cell disorder, is more common among African Americans. It is estimated that the disease occurs in 1 in every 500 African -American births and that 1 out of 12 African-Americans carry the sickle cell trait.(19)