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April 23, 2026

Citations in our reporting from CDC · NIH · American Heart Association · ACOG · APA · NAACP · Kaiser Family Foundation · JAMA · NEJM · The Lancet

A 2024 PNAS replication weakened the 2020 Greenwood finding on racial concordance and newborn mortality

A 2020 PNAS paper reported Black newborns cared for by Black physicians had lower in-hospital mortality in 1.8 million Florida births. A 2024 replication in the same journal reported the effect became statistically insignificant after …

Malik Johnson Apr 23, 2026 4 min read

Policy

A CMS extension of the GLP-1 Bridge through 2027 may reopen a Black Medicare access gap

Malik Johnson Apr 23

Policy

Four years on, long COVID's access gap is widening for Black patients

Malik Johnson Apr 22

This week

Editor's note

This week, we are focusing on a question that affects millions of Black families: why does the American healthcare system consistently underestimate Black patients' pain? From obstetric complications dismissed as exaggerated to sickle cell crises undertreated in emergency rooms, the data on pain bias in medicine are now overwhelming. Our lead story this week reports the research in depth and speaks to the Black clinicians building the evidence base to change it. If this reporting matters to you, share it and sign up for our newsletter below.

From our editor, Simone Abara, April 23, 2026

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Black health journalism grounded in community, equity, and editorial independence.

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Every article is fact-checked and reviewed by licensed Black clinicians.

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Conference / summit

Black Maternal Mental Health Summit 2026 (In-Person)

May 5, 2026

Compton, CA

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May 16, 2026

Atlanta, GA

Walk / Run / Ride

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May 17, 2026

Houston, TX

Education

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Seniors

Black seniors are Medicare-enrolled at similar rates to white seniors but receive less hospice, more intensive end-of-life procedures, and fewer …

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Kids and Teens

Approximately 1 in 365 Black or African American babies is born with sickle cell disease, and about 1 in 13 …

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Black Men's Health

Black men develop heart failure at a median age of 39, two decades before white peers, per the CARDIA cohort …

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Black Women's Health

Black women in the United States face the widest maternal mortality gap in the high-income world. In 2023, the Black …

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Data

Black health by the numbers

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Chronic Disease

1 in 365

Black American births inherit sickle cell disease — making it the most common genetic disease in the Black community

Updated April 1, 2026

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2.4M

Black Americans fell into the Medicaid coverage gap in states that have not expanded — losing access to subsidized coverage

Updated March 30, 2026

View data Maternal & Reproductive

3.3×

Black women die from pregnancy-related causes at 3.3 times the rate of white women

Updated March 15, 2026

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Policy

Health Policy Watch

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Active Federal

H.R. 3888

PFAS Clean Water Act

Environmental justice research consistently shows Black and low-income communities bear disproportionate PFAS exposure. A 2021 Nature Communications study …

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Critical Federal

H.R. 567