TORONTO, October 22, 2024 – Black Women’s Institute for Health (BWIH), a new non-profit advocating for the survival of Black women and girls, is launching a critical survey for Black women across Canada on October 22, 2024. This is the first time that Black women will be surveyed nationally to address the intersectional social factors, such as housing, education, and finance, that impact their mental and physical health outcomes. BWIH’s groundbreaking health survey initiative, VOICES UNHEARD: Canada’s First Vital Signs Survey For Black Women is a response to the lack of race-based data in the Canadian healthcare landscape that is needed to combat the alarming healthcare disparities Black women face, including poorer perinatal health outcomes, higher risks of developing cardiovascular diseases and aggressive forms of cancer (Improving Black Women’s Health in Canada, April 2024).
“Black women are in the midst of a health crisis. For too long we have faced dehumanization in the healthcare and adjacent systems. We’ve been dismissed, overlooked, and devalued,” states Kearie Daniel, Executive Director, BWIH. “Canada has yet to prioritize the collection of race-based data that is necessary to paint a full picture of who we are and to address health inequities. The Black Women’s Institute for Health was created to shed light on the
realities Black women face, and our VOICES UNHEARD survey aims to uncover the hidden truths about our experiences.”