Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Your Health/Hologic are Here for Black and Brown Women

Black and Brown women have many commonalities despite our vast differences. An interrelationship between Black and Brown women is how they’re treated within the U.S. healthcare system. Just like there are injustices in the criminal justice system, there are also many inequities within the healthcare system.

According to the Endometriosis Foundation of America, Black women are 3-4 times more likely to die from pregnancy complications than white women. Black women are also overrepresented in non-consensual clinical research and trials for new pharmaceutical drugs, and receive little government research funding for health conditions that greatly impact Black women, according to EndoFound.

Comparably, Hispanic and Latin X women are 40% more likely to have cervical cancer, and 20% more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Hispanic white women, according to the Center for American Progress. Additionally, 40% of Black and Hispanic women receive poorer healthcare than their non-white and non-Hispanic white counterparts, according to the Robert Johnson Wood Foundation.

The ongoing racial disparities within the healthcare system is the reason that media mogul Oprah Winfrey has launched her first-ever health initiative OWN Your Health. OWN Your Health, Ms. Winfrey’s initiative to bring awareness to the disparities Black women experience within the healthcare system, will be in partnership with Hologic’s Project Health Equality.  

Hologic’s Project Health Equality is geared towards improving the healthcare experience for Black and Brown women, collaborating with non-profit organizations to accomplish the ideal goal of equitable healthcare for all. 

While Hologic’s Project Health Equality will focus their efforts on Black and Brown women simultaneously, Oprah Winfrey’s healthcare initiative focuses solely on her fellow Black women. 

OWN Your Health is centered on three major areas that are affecting Black women’s health: Inefficient preventive health-care methods, and ineffective treatment for physical/mental health issues related to Black women.

“The partnership will bring awareness to the disparity of healthcare Black women receive in the areas of breast, cervical and uterine fibroids; provide access to education and preventative tools using Hologic’s comprehensive research and resources; and share original content from celebrated OWN creative visionaries highlighting the authentic stories and voices of Black women,” according the OWN Your Health website. 

The foundation of OWN Your Health is a necessity for creating a safer space for Black women within the healthcare system and the Black community overall.

“At OWN, we are always striving to meet our audience where she is and to serve her needs. This important initiative supports and empowers Black women, and it has never been more critical to use our wide-reaching platform to ensure they have the tools and resources needed to improve their health and well-being.” Tina Perry, president OWN told Discovery. “COVID-19 and the racial justice movement have also highlighted the need for urgent policy reform to balance disparities that exist in healthcare for Black women and we look forward to working with our distinguished advisory council on this campaign that will support and uplift our community.”