New breast cancer screening guidelines have been released by the American College of Physicians and we know that headlines alone don’t tell the whole story.
We checked in with @dr.aprilspencer to help break down what these updates really mean and help translate policy into practical understanding so women can make informed decisions in partnership with their providers.
Screening recommendations matter. They influence when women are encouraged to begin testing, how often they’re screened, and how providers approach care. For Black women, who are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages and experience higher mortality rates, clarity, context, and culturally competent guidance are critical.
As always, talk with your doctor about what screening plan is right for you. 💜
#BreastHealth #HealthEquity #BWHI #TheImperative
We’re convening leaders where strategy meets action.
On June 1 in Brunswick, New Jersey, BWHI will host a private, in-person strategy convening bringing together healthcare executives and providers, policymakers, funders, corporate leaders, and community-based organization leaders for a high-impact working brunch.
This is more than a conversation. It’s a facilitated strategy session designed to move ideas into alignment and alignment into action, with a shared focus on advancing health equity for Black women and families.
If you’re ready to build solutions at the intersection of policy, practice, and power, request your spot.
🔗 in our bio
#BWHI #HealthEquity #LeadershipInAction #TheImperative
This moment calls for awareness and engagement. The erosion of long-standing protections under the Voting Rights Act has real implications for how communities are represented and heard.
As changes unfold across states, it’s critical to pay attention to local decisions that shape political power. And as we move toward the 2026 midterm elections, our collective participation will help determine who is committed to protecting the right to vote and ensuring every community is represented.
On #AMKDAwarenessDay, we’re proud to stand with the American Kidney Fund to raise awareness about APOL1-mediated kidney disease, a genetic condition that disproportionately impacts Black communities.
If your family roots trace back to West or Central Africa, this is information you deserve to have.
Knowing your risk is not about fear. It’s about power. It’s about protecting your future and showing up for the people who count on you.
Get informed. Start the conversation. Share what you learn.
Learn more: link in our bio
Give yourself a moment that’s just yours. 🖤
Health isn’t only physical, it’s how we protect our peace, care for our minds, and ground ourselves in the middle of everything we carry.
That’s why BWHI partnered with BlackFULLness @theblackfullness , a wellness app designed to support the whole you. Right now, you have access to curated practices that help you slow down, reset, and breathe a little deeper.
Visit your app store or click the link in our bio.
Download the Blackfullness app and create your account. Use code BWHI for 6 months free.
Pause. Reset. Pour back into you.
#Blackfullness #BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
We are honored to present Luminaries of Health.
The Black Women’s Health Imperative will convene three MacArthur “Genius” Fellows Byllye Y. Avery, Dorothy Roberts, and Loretta Ross for a rare and powerful public conversation on the past, present, and future of reproductive justice in the United States.
Each of these trailblazers has fundamentally reshaped how this country understands health, not as an individual outcome, but as a reflection of policy, power, and structural conditions. Their work has transformed research, organizing, and national dialogue, centering Black women’s lived experiences as essential to advancing justice for all.
Join us as we learn from the women who helped define the field and who continue to shape its future.
Click the link in our bio.
#BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
Black women have been conditioned to shrink, soften the truth, dim brilliance, make ourselves smaller so others can feel comfortable.
No more.
Take up space in policy rooms, healthcare spaces, boardrooms, classrooms, and even your own living rooms.
Your voice is not disruptive, threatening or excessive. You are not “too much.”
You are the standard.
And this world adjusts accordingly.💜
#BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
What if pregnancy wasn’t treated as a moment, but as a part of lifelong heart health? In our latest blog, we discuss two major national reports on maternal cardiovascular risk and what they reveal about the gaps still putting women at risk. We also caught up with Dr. Rachel Bond @drrachelmbond for a powerful conversation on why the system is falling short and what it will take to change it.
This is a must-read for anyone who cares about maternal health and the future of care.
🔗 in our bio
#BWHI #BlackMaternalHealth #HeartHealth #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
For too long, women’s health, especially periods, has been treated like a “women-only” conversation.
But health doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in families. In partnerships. In community.
We love seeing Devale Ellis @iamdevale include his sons in conversations about their mother’s health. That’s how stigma breaks. That’s how empathy grows. That’s how boys become men who understand, respect, and support women’s bodies.
This is exactly why Me Period matters. It’s not just a film, it’s a tool. A bridge. A way to educate families so everyone knows how to show up for women and girls with knowledge instead of silence.
And we love men who publicly stand up for women’s health.
If you’re a brother, father, uncle, partner or simply someone who loves a Black woman you can help us continue this work in her honor or memory.
Join the Her Health Challenge.
🔗 Link in our bio.
Supporting women’s health isn’t optional. It’s leadership. 💜
#MePeriod #HerHealthChallenge #BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
We were honored to host a special screening of Me Period in partnership with The Mayor’s Office of One Atlanta at Atlanta City Hall. @weareoneatlanta @tahajnahspence
Together, we created space for meaningful, cross-generational dialogue around menstrual health, stigma, healing, and the importance of community support. The evening also included roundtable discussions, access to trusted resources, and free distribution of menstrual products, because dignity in menstrual health is a public health priority.
We are grateful to 3D Girls, Inc. @3dgirlsinc for serving as an ambassador for this important screening and for helping amplify the voices of young people across the city.
Thank you to our facilitator Lanota Fludd @luxurylifecounseling and speakers Tammy Von @tammy_von_nordheim and Candace M. Stanciel @candacestanciel
When local government, community leaders, and health advocates come together, we move beyond awareness, we build solutions.
#MePeriod #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #BWHI #OneAtlanta
The reset you needed is coming!
But let’s be clear… spring cleaning isn’t just about closets and junk drawers.
Our Dish Diva and BWHI Lifestyle Coaches are inviting you to go deeper in this Coaches Corner episode of CYL2 Spring Cleaning.
We’re talking:
• Cleaning up habits that aren’t serving you
• Refreshing routines that feel tired
• Resetting your freezer, pantry, and plate
• Aligning your space with your health goals
• Pouring back into yourself on purpose
This is your reminder that a little “life cleaning” can go a long way.
Join us this evening for a fun, interactive conversation where we keep it real about what it actually takes to reset and move forward.
Don’t miss it.
(Link in our bio)
#BWHI #CYL2 #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
As Earth Day comes to a close, we wanted to highlight our land and the people who have always worked it.
Black farmers have tilled, cultivated, and sustained this country for generations, often while fighting land loss, discrimination, and erasure. Films like Farming While Black remind us that environmental justice is inseparable from racial justice.
The land remembers. And so do we.
Supporting Black farmers, environmentalists, and nature advocates is not a trend, it’s an investment in food sovereignty, climate resilience, and community health.
Today (and beyond), check out and support:
@farmingwhileblack_film
@blackwomeninnature
@blackgirlenvironmentalist
@blackurbangrowers
@outdoorsyblackwomen
@outdoorafro
#EarthDay #FarmingWhileBlack #BWHI BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
For us, Black Maternal Health Week isn’t just one week. It’s 365, and we are lifting up the voices demanding change.
Our EVP, Marketing and Communications, Lisa Cunningham @iamlisacunningham sat down with Midwife Jamarah Amani @goddesspeacebeautiful , licensed midwife and co-founder of the National Black Midwives Alliance @NationalBlackMidwivesAlliance , to discuss her lawsuit challenging Georgia’s restrictive midwifery laws, some of the most limiting in the country.
More than 50% of Georgia’s counties are maternity care deserts. The state’s maternal mortality rate remains above the national average, and 87% of those deaths are deemed preventable.
This conversation traces the deep roots of Black midwifery in the South, the deliberate policies that pushed birth workers out of communities that needed them most, and what it means to demand your rights out loud.
Watch the full interview with Lisa and Jamarah ( 🔗 Link in our bio)
#BlackMaternalHealth #BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
Earth Day is about the planet and it’s also about the people most impacted by how we treat it.
Black women are part of the earth. We live in communities more likely to face environmental hazards. We experience higher rates of asthma, heat exposure, water contamination, and limited access to green space.
Environmental justice is health equity.
Clean air.
Safe water.
Access to fresh food.
Climate policies that protect vulnerable communities.
When we talk about protecting the earth, we are also talking about protecting Black mothers, daughters, and families.
Caring for the planet is caring for Black women. 🌍💜
#EarthDay #BWHI #BlackWomeneHealth #TheImperative
TIMELINE CLEANSE!!
Did y’all see Vanessa Williams outside in London with the MOVES??!
Dancing like the auntie we all love, all vibes to T.I.’s new album with her cast mates from The Devil Wears Prada musical. And yes, she’s starring as Miranda Priestly. Icon behavior only.
This is your reminder that grown, glamorous, and unbothered is a lifestyle.
Shout out to @therapyforblackgirls for the gentle reminder our sistas needed.
April is Stress Awareness Month, and sometimes managing stress isn’t a dramatic reset. It’s the small things.
Closing the laptop. Stepping outside. Eating without multitasking. Letting your nervous system breathe.
Black women carry so much at work, at home, in the community. But burnout is not a badge of honor.
Protect your peace in the little ways. They add up.
#StressAwarenessMonth #BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
There is too much grief in the air right now, and it feels like it is just sitting with us. We are still trying to process the violence we spoke about just days ago, and now we are here again. This time, children’s lives were taken. That is not something you can soften or explain away. It is devastating in a way that reaches beyond words and settles deep in the heart.
At Black Women’s Health Imperative, we talk about health as something bigger than what happens in a doctor’s office. It is about whether you feel safe in your own home. It is about whether your children can grow up and simply be. It is about being able to move through the world without carrying fear in your body. When violence shows up like this, it shakes all of that.
Moments like this change how people sleep at night. They change the way communities gather and grieve and try to make sense of something that does not make sense.
So today we are not rushing past it. We are not pretending it is just another headline. We are sitting with the weight of it and holding space for the families and communities who are carrying more than anyone should have to carry.
We are not OK.
And if you or someone you love is living with violence, we want you to know there are places that understand and are ready to support you:
✨ @ujimacommunity, The National Center on Violence Against Women in the Black Community
ujimacommunity.org
✨ @thesafesisterscircle
safesisterscircle.org
✨ @blackwomenrevolt
blackwomenrevolt.org
👉🏾National Domestic Violence Hotline
Call 1-800-799-7233, text START to 88788, or visit thehotline.org
Reaching out can feel hard, but you deserve safety, care, and the chance to live without fear.
Sis, We get it.
The day was long.
The to-do list never ends.
But relief doesn’t have to come in a glass. Sometimes what your body really needs is:
• Rest
• Regulation
• Movement
• Conversation
• Silence
• Water
• Sleep
Alcohol can feel like a shortcut to calm, but real restoration comes from supporting your nervous system, not numbing it. This isn’t about judgment. It’s about awareness.
What actually helps you unwind?
Drop it below. Let’s build a healthier list together. 💜
#AlcoholAwarenessMonth #BWHI #BlackWomensHealth #TheImperative
We’re proud to share that our Interim Executive Vice President of Programs & Advocacy, Dr. Zsanai Epps @enviablezsanai, will join @NMQF as a keynote speaker at the 2026 Comms Mini-Summit in Washington, D.C.
On April 28, leaders from across the country will gather to discuss insights and strategies for advancing patient-centered communication, because how we communicate in healthcare directly shapes outcomes, trust, and equity.
Join the conversation and be part of the movement to move health equity forward.
🔗 Learn more: (Link in our bio)
#HealthEquity #NMQF2026 #BWHI #TheImperative
Sometimes self-care isn’t a routine.
It’s permission.
Permission to just be.
But today?
You don’t have to perform strength.
You can simply exist. And that is enough.