Dear Community:

October calls us to action! As Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Domestic Violence Awareness Month converge, we’re reminded that these crises disproportionately affect Black women and families – too often through delayed detection, limited access to care, and barriers to safety and support. We also recognize the conclusion of Hispanic Heritage Month on October 15, and honor our Latino neighbors whose health journeys reflect similar inequities and strengths.

This month, please schedule your screenings, check in on loved ones, and share helpline information. Encourage conversations that reduce stigma and open pathways to care, because early detection and safe, trauma-informed support save lives. Our team is working with local health systems, counseling providers, faith leaders, and grassroots organizations to connect residents with mammography referrals, mental and emotional health services, and survivor-centered assistance.

Save the Date: Halle-Bration returns December 12–13! Add it to your calendars and see the flyer below for event details! Together, we can turn awareness into action and action into impact. Wishing you all a blessed week ahead.

Renee Mahaffey Harris

President & CEO

ARE YOU CARING FOR A LOVED ONE 60 YEARS OR OLDER?

Join Our Caregiver Support Series

Caring for a loved one is both rewarding and challenging. Most people cannot truly understand these challenges. Our series allows you to be in community and learn from other Caregivers like you, and give you tools to fulfill your responsibilities even better.

Click the Option Best for Your Schedule

Call us at (513)585-9879 for more information.

Global life expectancy returns to pre-pandemic levels but major health challenges remain, study says

Global life expectancy has returned to pre-pandemic levels, but major disparities remain by region, according to a major new study. COVID-19 quickly became the top cause of death worldwide when the pandemic swept the globe in 2020, dragging down life expectancy with it. People born in 2021 could expect to live to 71.7 on average.

But by 2023, COVID-19 had sunk to the 20th leading cause of death, behind a handful of chronic illnesses, Alzheimer’s disease, and neonatal disorders. Global life expectancy rebounded to 73.8 years. Chronic diseases now account for nearly two-thirds of death and illness worldwide, led by heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, according to the research published in The Lancet medical journal.

Racial Equity in Clinical Equations

How can we more rigorously consider race in clinical equations so that these algorithms no longer contribute to racial health disparities?

Mathematical algorithms have long guided medical decision-making, from diagnosis to treatment. Although widely used by clinicians and hospitals, these algorithms too often include race in an inaccurate way, potentially leading to patient harm. Through study, partnership and dialogue—grounded in scientific rigor and empirical evidence—we’re illuminating the impact of these algorithms and supporting scientific research frameworks that can improve human health for all. This alliance, led by the Council of Medical Specialty Societies and supported by the Doris Duke Foundation, is driving change and raising awareness about race in clinical algorithms.

Health equity gets a scorecard: IHI’s new plan to standardize disparities data

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has released a new framework designed to help health systems consistently measure and address health disparities. Titled "Advancing Health Equity: An Approach to Systematically Identify and Evaluate Health Disparities," the white paper outlines a four-step method that aims to establish an industry standard for equity measurement across health care settings.

“At IHI we often say, ‘measure what matters,’ and this framework provides a first-of-its-kind process for health care organizations to identify inequities in patient populations and measure efforts to reduce them,” said Sylvia Trent-Adams, Ph.D., RN, president and CEO of IHI. The framework, developed with input from more than 35 experts through IHI’s Health Equity Accelerator, responds to what the organization calls a long-standing gap in standardized methods to quantify inequities. The release comes as federal and state regulators increasingly require hospitals and insurers to stratify quality data by sociodemographic characteristics.

How should health researchers advance health equity?

Advancing health equity requires researchers to focus on the needs of the most disadvantaged populations. Equity differs from equality: while equality involves treating everyone the same, equity recognises that individuals face different circumstances and structural barriers, and therefore require different levels of support.



In health research, equality might involve evenly distributing resources, but equity demands greater investment in historically under-resourced settings and populations that bear a disproportionate burden of ill health. This distinction is especially important given the stark disparities in research infrastructure, capacity, and funding between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as within national borders.

While challenges to achieving equity, particularly within academic structures and collaborative partnerships, are often discussed, our paper focuses on often-overlooked dimensions of equity and the new ethical questions they raise while trying to advance equity. Through a bioethics lens, and grounded in our experience conducting research in low-resource settings, we examine the distinct yet interrelated aspects of equity in health research.

Impact of Adverse Socioeconomic Conditions on Physical and Oral Health Limitations Among American Older Adults

Maintaining physical and oral function is crucial for health, well-being, and independent living in older age. As the number of older adults in the United States rises, an increasing number of individuals are experiencing impairments that make it harder for them to perform daily tasks or maintain their oral health. In addition to being highly prevalent, these limitations have a major negative impact on the quality of life by lowering autonomy, increasing dependency, and raising healthcare needs. The loss of independence and an increased risk of institutionalization may arise from physical functional limitations, such as difficulties with activities of daily living (ADLs), including walking, climbing stairs, lifting objects, or completing self-care chores. Pain, trouble eating, and embarrassment regarding the mouth are examples of oral health limitations that can affect one’s physical and mental health, decrease social contact, and lead to nutritional deficiencies.

NMA Statement on the EPA’s Proposal to Rescind the Endangerment Finding

Statement attributable to:

Dr. Roger A. Mitchell, Jr.

126th President, National Medical Association

The National Medical Association (NMA) strongly opposes the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding. This finding, grounded in decades of scientific evidence and affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, recognizes that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare; particularly in communities already burdened by poor air quality and environmental injustice.

Rolling back this critical protection would have catastrophic consequences for climate health, increasing rates of respiratory disease, heart disease, and premature death, especially among African Americans and other vulnerable populations who disproportionately live near highways, industrial areas, and sources of pollution. African Americans are also much more likely to die from issues caused by air pollution than people from other racial and ethnic groups. Many Black people in the U.S. deal with two distinct problems: breathing in more polluted air and being more likely to suffer from its harmful health effects due to challenging living conditions.

Additionally, African Americans experience higher health risks from extreme weather caused by climate change, such as heatwaves and hurricanes. Many Black people have less access to healthcare and money, and tend to have more existing health problems. These factors, along with higher temperatures and stronger storms, make people of color more vulnerable to physical injuries, heat-related sicknesses, breathing problems, and interruptions in important services such as clean water and electricity.

The NMA urges the EPA and all policymakers to uphold the Endangerment Finding and to strengthen, not weaken, safeguards that protect the air we breathe and the planet we share. Public health and environmental health are inseparable, and protecting them must remain a national priority.

October is Children's Health Month: The Critical Role of Reliable Backup Power in Pediatric Care

Each October, Children’s Health Month calls attention to the unique medical, social, and infrastructural challenges involved in protecting the health of children. For clinicians, administrators, and hospital leaders, it is an opportunity not only to emphasize preventive care but also to examine the systems that underpin effective pediatric practice. One of those systems — often overlooked until it fails — is the electrical infrastructure on which modern pediatric care depends.

Power Reliability as a Pediatric Safety Issue

The delivery of pediatric care today is inseparable from advanced technology. Neonatal intensive care units rely on incubators and warming systems that must remain continuously powered to maintain thermoregulation for premature infants. Children with acute or chronic respiratory conditions are supported by ventilators, CPAP devices, and nebulizers, all of which demand a constant electrical supply. Vaccine refrigerators and freezers safeguard fragile biologics that are central to immunization schedules, while electronic health record platforms give clinicians the real-time information necessary to make safe decisions for their patients. When power is interrupted, even briefly, the consequences extend beyond inconvenience. Temperature excursions can undermine the efficacy of vaccines, forcing clinics to discard doses and delay scheduled immunizations. A ventilator that ceases operation during a blackout can turn a stable pediatric patient into a critical emergency in seconds. In a broader sense, a facility unable to maintain continuity erodes community trust — a cost that is harder to measure but just as damaging.

Equal survival for Black Americans with multiple myeloma when appropriately matched to White Americans

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a malignant plasma cell disorder with marked racial disparities in incidence and mortality. In the United States, Black Americans (BA) have roughly twice the incidence and mortality rates of White Americans (WA), making MM the most common hematologic malignancy among BA [1]. Inequities in access to timely, optimal treatment are well documented [2], but the contribution of biological or genetic factors to survival differences remains uncertain [3]. Some studies have reported better or equivalent survival when treatment access was more equitable [4,5,6], though treatment intensity, sequencing, and timing from diagnosis were not strictly matched between racial groups, leaving the possibility of unmeasured biological or molecular risk. Notably, one major study observed worse outcomes for BA despite adjustment for clinical and molecular risk, though treatment matching was imbalanced [7]. To address gaps in earlier work, we combined comprehensive risk assessment with meticulous treatment matching, allowing for a more accurate evaluation of racial outcomes.