Black History Month 2025

ADVANCING COMMITMENTS TO ELIMINATE HEALTH DISPARITIES AMONG BLACK/AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES

Every February we observe Black History Month to celebrate and recognize the many ways Black history, culture, leadership, and innovation have influenced and contributed to all facets of life in the United States. This year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) celebrates Black History Month with its 2025 theme, Advancing Commitments to Eliminate Health Disparities. OMH encourages public, community, or nonprofit private organization to adopt this theme in their 2025 communications to highlight how they are advancing commitments to eliminate health disparities and support healthier outcomes for Black/African American populations.

Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by certain populations because of social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantages (known as social determinants of health). These disadvantages can limit access to health care and contribute to Black/African Americans experiencing higher rates of poor health and disease compared to their white counterparts. For example:

Black/African Americans are also more susceptible to certain diseases, like sickle cell disease. OMH encourages public, community, and nonprofit private organizations to start taking steps to advance commitments to eliminating these and other health disparities impacting Black/African Americans.

African Americans and Labor

The national 2025 Black History Month theme, African Americans, and Labor, focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds – free and unfree, skilled, and unskilled, vocational and voluntary – intersect with the collective experiences of Black people.

Visit the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) website to learn more about this theme.

Ways to Help Advance Your Commitments to Eliminate Health Disparities Among Black/African American Communities and Other Ethnic and Racial Minority Groups

Here are four steps you can take to start advancing your commitments to eliminate health disparities among Black/African Americans and others:

Consider

Considering the diverse cultural backgrounds, preferred languages, economic and environmental circumstances, and health literacy levels is the first step towards helping address health disparities among ethnic and racial groups, including Black/African Americans. When individuals are provided with culturally and linguistically appropriate services (CLAS) and information, they are better able to create healthier outcomes for themselves, their families, and their communities. Visit Think Cultural Health to find training, resources, and strategies for providing CLAS.

Connect

Connecting multiple sources of trusted data and information, like the OMH Black/African American Population Profile and Healthy People 2030 Objectives Data, can help develop comprehensive, data-driven policies, programs, and practices that benefit the ethnic and racial groups you serve, including Black/African American communities. Use the OMH Knowledge Center’s Online Library Catalog and services to conduct research on health topics related to Black/African Americans and others.

Collaborate

Collaborating with federal, state, and local partners may help identify and provide the resources needed to build a sustainable community-based workforce that has a positive, long-term impact on Black/African American communities and other minority populations. Visit the OMH Resource Center to learn more about requesting a free funding search. Resource Center Information Specialists are available to provide no-cost searches on sources of federal and non-federal funding.

Contribute

Contributing to conversations on social media during Black History Month is a great opportunity to share your story and raise awareness about the health disparities impacting Black/African Americans. Follow OMH (@MinorityHealth) on X, Instagram, and Facebook and use #AdvancingCommitments to share how you and your organization are Advancing Commitments to Eliminate Health Disparities among Black/African Americans.