Health Disparities

Investigators at St. Louis University and SSM Health hope to recruit people to add their health information to a huge national database that aims to diversify medical research.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has included millions in his proposed budget to bolster efforts aimed to reduce deaths among pregnant women and new mothers. The plan includes funds to support doulas, midwives and other community birth workers.

Virtuously B’Earthed Doula Services, a St. Louis-area birthing agency, received nearly $90,000 to teach doula care this fall in Spanish, French, Somali and Arabic. The agency will provide translated manuals and training to bilingual women.

The head of the U.S. Census Bureau says the latest census data can make health more equitable in Illinois and across the country.

Despite the findings, some say ‘Healthy Illinois 2028’ is missing key areas of focus.

Jamaa Birth Village plans to open satellite midwifery birthing locations across Missouri next year. Patients can receive midwifery and doula care and social support services.

Residents in parts of north St. Louis and north St. Louis County will have the opportunity to access healthier food options and physical activities through a $3.8 million community health grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Affinia Healthcare is opening a 15,000-square-foot clinic in Ferguson on Nov. 2., which will be led by three Black women physicians. People can receive pediatric care, dental care, behavioral health services, lactation assistance, substance abuse support, family medicine care and midwifery services.

The Medical Humanities program at Washington University in St. Louis is hosting a forum Saturday on Medicine, Race, and Ethnicity in St. Louis. Scholars and doctors will discuss racism in health care in the St. Louis region, the well-being of Asian and Hispanic communities, and how activism and art can create change within the medical field.

Dr. Makeba Williams has examined the societal and medical factors that cause early-onset menopause in Black Americans.