Through panels, workshops and celebrations, the second annual Black Health Connect conference, held July 11-14 in Washington, D.C., offered a safe space to discuss health care challenges within the African diaspora, and worked to create solutions to fix these problems.
Improving health care equity and creating a networking system that allows the African diaspora to communicate is one of the organization’s main goals, according to Dr. Rashad M. Abdallah, a clinical pharmacist and director of Black Health Connect Africa.
Abdallah told The Informer he and his team have been speaking directly to the communities they are working to help.
“[We met with] community leaders to figure out, ‘how can we make it better'” said Abdallah, who hosted a panel during the conference entitled “Black Health Connect Goes International,” on July 12.
There’s a lot of work needed to “better” health equity in Africa.
According to the International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC), over 600 million people in Africa still don’t have access to primary health care.
However, Black Health Connect and organizations such as The Distant Relatives Project, a local nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., are working to improve such numbers. In January 2024, the local organization, in collaboration with Ghanaian artist King Promise, conducted health screenings in Teshie, Ghana.
During the “Black Health Connect Goes International” panel, William K. Asiedu, founder of The Distant Relatives Project, offered advice for beginning work in Africa. He emphasized the need to truly learn about and engage with African people and cultures.
“There is a cultural barrier that you have to overcome,” Asiedu explained during the panel. “The most basic advice I can give you is to try the food, party, get to know the people and why they are stuck in their ways of doing things.”
Jacqueline Idun, a family nurse practitioner and director of communication and international affairs at the Ghanaian Diaspora Nursing Alliance, encouraged the crowd to partner with people who know the community when working in Africa.
She shared her own experiences in health care, such as collaborating with a non-Black doctor who has been working with Ghanaian pediatric patients for more than five years. Because her team is new, Idun is taking note, listening and partnering with the longtime doctor to provide the best care.
“These kids come [to the clinic], and when you ask them questions, they will tell you [a diagnosis], and that’s not necessary what it is,” Idun explained.
Panelist Tambra Raye Stevenson, CEO of Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture (WANDA), noted that Black Americans and Africans must consider a critical commonality between themselves: they both are “ingrained with a mindset of internalized oppression and extraction.”
“We have to humble ourselves when we go to the continent and [understand] that we’ve all been impacted, on both sides, of the Atlantic,” Stevenson said.
As organizations and health care practitioners take time to humbly learn and connect with various African cultures, access to health care is also improving. More than 400 members of Accra, Ghana’s Nima community have undergone screening, and an additional 54 patients have been referred for emergency services and follow-ups, according to Black Health Connect Africa,
Dr. Abdallah told The Informer his team plans to visit Ghana every year and will continue improving the country’s health care systems while in the United States.
Why is Black Health Connect Important?
As Black Health Connect works to address issues in health care across the African diaspora, the conference also aims to build community, cement partnerships and foster changemakers.
“We have more strategic partners that can help us invest more into our community,” said Duclas “Duke” Charles, founder and executive director of Black Health Connect. “I want to keep doing what we are doing through creating opportunities for people to come together, giving people the right tools to better themselves as professionals.”
For Asiedu, Black Health Connect stands out from other conferences because of its distinct focus on meaningful work rather than merely networking or talking about problems. Black Health Connect offers opportunities to create lasting solutions.
“I know the founder, I know Black Health Connect, I know the mission, I’ve worked with them previously and I know they are committed to continuous community engagement,” Asiedu told The Informer. “So for me, it’s about being a part of this movement and being a part of the trailblazers that are leading the way to a better Africa, a better Caribbean and a better Black community as a whole.”