New Collaborative Builds Primer for Missing Black Health Curriculum

A group of prominent Canadian Black health researchers is coming together as a collaborative to provide Black health education for all health professionals and students.

The Black Health Education Collaborative (BHEC) will make its first module available to students next year, which with other materials will serve as a foundation for all health professionals on critical information about Black health in Canada.

“Due to the racial disparities amplified in this pandemic and the murder of George Floyd, there is a greater awareness of anti-Black racism and its impacts on health,” says Professor Onye Nnorom, a researcher in the collaborative and Black Health Theme Lead for the Temerty Faculty of Medicine MD Program.

“The increase in public consciousness has been a silver lining in a very terrible storm that has been all of our lives for the last 18 months or more,” Nnorom says.

Nnorom initiated the project with other Black health leaders in Canada after she became theme lead at Temerty Medicine. She was eager to develop a health primer but was short on resources.

“I needed to know what the standards are, what needs to be on exams, otherwise I’m kind of just decoration here,” says Nnorom, who is also an assistant professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

And while the Black student population in Medicine and DLSPH has grown in recent years, the curricula still missed critical information on Black health. Nnorom says Canadian medical education still uses data from the United States with no Canadian context, and often focuses primarily on chronic disease prevalence among Black people.

“Or they’re taught that the disparities in our community are biologically based. In public health, it’s kind of the same thing. Either you’re not taught about Black populations or you’re just talking about it through American data,” she says.

“Students are giving the impression that there is something cultural or some knowledge lacking or some other deficit with the marginalized community as to why they have disparities, as opposed to understanding that these are rooted in structural racism and oppression,” Nnorom says.

She teamed up with Professor OmiSoore Dryden, the James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies in the Faculty of Medicine at Dalhousie University, to provide insights into social determinants of health and their impact on Black health and academic critical race theory. Together, they formed a national group to consult on health primers.

A proposal was drafted in 2018, and consultations followed a year later with medical and public health students and scholars. The group built enough material to make its case, presenting at webinars and workshops. Members met sporadically to solidify their pitch. That’s until the pandemic hit — then their work took a short pause.

Black Lives Matter demonstrations following George Floyd’s death spurred a renewed demand for a primer, and the group finished what they started.

“Working with my colleagues allowed us to pool our resources and our expertise in Black studies, critical race theory, health, clinical practices, public health, and medical education,” says Dryden. “Working together during the renewed Black Lives Matter protests, and the impact the pandemic has had on our communities allowed us to minimize our isolation while sharing resources.”

The collaborative welcomed its first executive director, Dalla Lana School alumna Sume Ndumbe-Eyoh, in August. Her new role is a continuation of her decade-long journey on social determinants of health across Canada. Now, she can examine Black health exclusively on a national scope.

“Focusing on health equity and social determinants of health just felt like a natural space to be in because I’ve always understood health as something which exists beyond disease and which has really shaped me,” Ndumbe-Eyoh says.

“If you’re going to medical school right now, that should be part of what you’re learning. If you’re going through a school of public health, that should be included as part of what you’ll learn. We should not have folks graduating, who do not understand that racism affects health and who don’t have the skills to address anti-Black racism,” says Ndumbe-Eyoh.

Born and raised in Cameroon, Ndumbe-Eyoh noticed the disconnect between public health messaging and the realities she and her friends were living through in Cameroon. A popular campaign in her home country got her interested in public health programs and interventions. At DLSPH, she studied the social dimensions of HIV/AIDS in public health.

Ndumbe-Eyoh argues that while the work didn’t stop, mainstream media finally took notice of an issue activists like herself have been pushing for.

“I think the public consciousness, at least for white folks, appears to be shifting. I say ‘appears’ because I have many question marks around that,” she says. “I think for those of us who’ve been doing this work for a while, the work is always ongoing. What I’ve seen shift is that more mainstream organizations are probably making space for Black-led work on anti-Black racism.”

With the understanding of the heterogeneity in the Black community, Ndumbe-Eyoh hopes that health professionals will also be given some insights into the complexities community members face with duelling social backgrounds, genders, and incomes. As part of her first months in her role, Ndumbe-Eyoh is eager to lay out the foundations of Black health to medical students.

The collaborative is also creating a continuing professional development program for clinicians and health practitioners.

“We will be developing resources to support faculty development. In the last year, a lot of folks are being pulled into teaching about anti-racism and Black health who need a community of practice,” says Ndumbe-Eyoh.

Her office will develop resources to support faculty with the assistance of researchers in the community who can offer research and practical perspectives in teaching anti-racism.

The program began with seed funding of $1.7 million with support from the Dalla Lana School, Temerty Medicine and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. The collaborative is seeking more funding to expand the work to include mentorship, a community of practice for scholars and educators, publications and providing research and training.

“It is my hope that our work influences the culture of medical education through new structures that specifically address Black health and wellness,” says Dryden. “I hope that health learners will develop the skills necessary to provide appropriate care to Black and African Nova Scotian communities across the country. And it is my hope that health educators will develop and update their skills to better equip our health learners.”