Minority
Women's Health
Pick Your Path
to Health Campaign
It is very common for women nowadays to have multiple demands on their time. The Pick Your Path to Health Campaign,
sponsored by the Office on Womens Health, helps women take simple and time-sensitive
steps to improve their health, and will encourage local communities to promote practical,
culturally interesting, and relevant action steps to wellness. Previous health campaigns
aimed at women have emphasized long-term goals, such as losing weight or quitting smoking.
In a departure designed to work with todays multi-tasking, multi-cultural society,
this new approach will suggest specific, life-oriented action steps, such as taking the
stairs instead of the elevator and eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, so woman can
manage their time and their health, one step at a time, in a single action.
The Pick Your
Path to Health campaign will encourage health awareness among all women, with special
emphasis on African American, Asian American/Pacific Islander, Hispanic American, and
American Indian and Alaska Native women, who as minorities, face disproportionate
obstacles to health care. The campaign focuses on Healthy People 2010 objectives, the
nations health agenda. Through public/private partnerships campaign materials are
distributed to local neighborhood groups and local media, trusted by minority women, so
that the information can be transformed into formats and messages most appropriate for
those individual communities. Educational materials are available on-line for community
groups wanting to be a part of this important campaign. Click here to access the Community Action Kit.
The OWH contact person is Sharon
Ricks.
Top
Minority Womens Health Panel of
Experts
The Office on Women's Health (OWH) established the Minority
Women's Health Panel of Experts in response to its 1997 conference, "Bridging the
Gap: Enhancing Partnerships to Improve Minority Women's Health." The panel is
composed of physicians, clinicians, community advocates, and academicians working in
communities and health settings around the country that serve racially and ethnically
diverse women. The five major ethnic groups (African American, American Indian/Alaska
Native, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and Hispanic) are
represented among the panel members, who have expertise in a variety of disciplines,
including young women's health, women and aging, health care delivery systems,
reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, violence against women, mental health, substance abuse,
breast/cervical cancer, diabetes, heart disease, immigrant/refugee women's health, public
health research, cultural competency in women's health, and health policy. The major focus
of the panel is to ensure that the ethnic minority focus is incorporated throughout OWH
programs, policies and initiatives by 1) providing input to and serving as a resource for
the United States Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Office on Women's
Health, in support of the OWH's goals to improve the health of women and in the
development of minority women's health initiatives; 2) providing input to the
Department/Secretarial initiatives; and 3) providing input on recommendations that address
OWH or DHHS initiatives from the "Bridging the Gap: Enhancing Partnerships to Improve
Minority Women's Health Conference," targeted to enhance the health of minority women
in the United States.
The OWH contact person for the OWH Minority Women's Health
Panel is Adrienne M. Smith
For a full listing of
the OWH Minority Womens Health Panel of Experts, click here.
Top
NWHIC's Minority Women's
Health Section
Visit NWHIC's Minority Women's Health web site section.
Here you can learn about the most common health risks and concerns of minority women and
get great resources for more information on these health topics. You also can learn more
about the many programs supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that
are trying to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health.
Top
Breastfeeding
A subcommittee of the Federal Interagency Working Group on Women's Health and the
Environment developed the HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding, released in October,
2000 by the Surgeon General, representing the first comprehensive framework on
breastfeeding for the Nation. The Blueprint focuses attention on the importance of
breastfeeding and recommends action steps for the health care system, families, the
community, researchers and the workplace to promote breastfeeding. The framework also
identifies racial and ethnic disparities that exist in breastfeeding, and reveals
extremely low rates that exist in African American women. The plan was developed by
several organizations in the medical, business, women's health, advocacy, and academic
communities and promotes a plan for breastfeeding based on education, training, awareness,
support, and research. Specifically, the plan lays out a framework based on the
recommendation that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first 4-6 months of a baby's
life, preferably 6 months.
After announcing the HHS Blueprint for Action on
Breastfeeding, the Office on Women's Health (OWH) received a tremendous response from
consumers, organizations, and public health professionals concerned about the disparities
in breastfeeding rates among white and African American mothers. To address this issue,
the Office on Women's Health has partnered with the African-American Breastfeeding
Alliance, Inc. (AABA), a community-based non-profit organization whose purpose is to
educate the African American community about the benefits of breastfeeding through
education, counseling, training, and advocacy. This community partnership with AABA began
in December of 2000 and the effort is in its strategic planning phase. For more
information about the African American Breastfeeding partnership, e-mail aaba@att.net.
The OWH contact person for Breastfeeding is Dr. Suzanne Haynes.
Top
Lupus Awareness Project
Lupus disproportionately affects women but has long been under-recognized. There is
a lack of public understanding of its seriousness or urgency. Lupus affects the lives of
1.4 million Americans often manifesting in women between the ages of 15-44. It is 2-3
times more prevalent in women of color. The HHS OWH recognizes the impact of this disease
in the lives of American women and has partnered with the Lupus Foundation of America to
promote awareness of lupus. Major OWH objectives include:
- stimulating the development of effective women's health
policies and programs at the national, State, and local levels;
- strengthening and sustaining a broad range of research on the
diseases and conditions that affect women;
- promoting comprehensive and culturally appropriate prevention,
diagnostic, and treatment services for women across the life span;
- stimulating public and health care professional education,
training, and information dissemination on women's health issues; and
- fostering the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women
in scientific careers and in the health professions.
The OWH has convened two scientific seminars attended by HHS
employees, friends, relatives, and collaborating partners.
The OWH contact person for the Lupus Initiative is Frances Ashe-Goins
Top
Female Genital
Cutting (FGC)
The U.S. Congress has directed DHHS to address the issue of female genital cutting
(FGC) by:
- compiling data on the number of females living in the U.S.
affected by this practice
- identifying communities in the U.S. that practice FGC and
implementing outreach activities to educate individuals in those communities about the
health effects of this practice, and
- developing recommendations for the education of medical
students about the complications arising from FGC.
As part of the response to this Congressional directive, DHHS
established a work group, previously led by the Office of International and Refugee
Health, to develop strategies and a plan of action. DHHS OWH developed a task force to
develop recommendations on the physical and psychological complications from FGC.
This task force on FGC consulted with numerous health
professional organizations about their needs for training regarding FGC. Based on these
conversations, OWH awarded a contract to Research Action and Information for the Bodily
Integrity of Women (RAINB ) to develop training materials. RAINB is a non-profit
organization with extensive experience with FGC both in the U.S. and internationally.
These materials have been widely disseminated to health professional schools and
organizations including all schools of medicine, nursing and public health. An intensive
mailing list included international organizations, regional womens health
coordinators, and congressional members.
The OWH also participated in the planning and coordination of
the FGC Community Outreach Working Group, and was an active partner in the planning and
coordination of the a Pilot Community Meeting on FGC held at Howard University for the
Washington metropolitan community. As a result of the success and lessons learned from
that meeting, several other community meetings were planned and coordinated across the
country with the assistance of the regional womens health coordinators.
The OWH has recently re-invigorated its efforts in this
area, and now leads and coordinates the FGC Task Force. The Task Force is currently
focused on updating department-wide activities, planning next-steps, promoting information
sharing, and collaboration with groups that focus on FGC and its consequences to women.
The OWH contact person is Dr. Saralyn Mark.
Top
About Us | Calendar | National Staff | Regional Staff | NWHIC
| Contact Us
|