More than 200 million people in the Americas alone identify as being of African descent.  Millions more are located worldwide outside the African continent. Whether as descendants of the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, or as more recent migrants, they are among some of the poorest and most marginalized groups. Nonetheless, people of African descent are holders of a great multicultural richness, resilience and provide substantive contributions to every field of human endeavour, including health.
Last year, the United Nations marked the first-ever International Day for People of African Descent on 31 August 2021. This comes at the midpoint of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), which aims to celebrate the important contributions of people of African descent worldwide, advance social justice and inclusion policies, eradicate racism and intolerance, promote human rights, and assist in creating better, more prosperous communities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals spearheaded by the United Nations.
In relation to health equity, people of African descent who face exclusion, racism, xenophobia and other forms of intolerance can have increased exposure and vulnerability to risk factors for ill-health, lesser access to quality health services, and worse health outcomes. This has been evidenced by COVID-19 pandemic, in which across the globe, some of the starkest inequities have been experienced by indigenous peoples as well as people of African descent and other ethnic minorities experiencing discrimination.
Webinar: “Advancing the Right to Health for People of African Descent”
A global webinar will be held on 31 August 2022 to:
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Related
Download the event flyer
More information on the International Day for People of African Descent 
Frontier dialogue consultations on addressing structural racial and ethnicity-based discrimination 
Gender
Health equity
Human rights
 
 

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