International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora—ICHAD2012
Throughout the Western Hemisphere some 60 million people of African descent share a common history of forced migration, chattel slavery, and discrimination. They also share striking commonalities and differences in health status, holding vital information about the complex relationship between health and the broader human experience. Moreover, compared to their white counterparts in the region, African descendants live sicker, receive substandard healthcare, and die younger—even when factors like income and education are taken into account.
In the summer of 2012, the International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora—ICHAD2012 will bring together an international group of scholars, policymakers, health workers, health advocates, and journalists from across the globe to compare knowledge about the health and social experience of slave descendants in the Western Hemisphere. Conference participants will share multilevel solutions to major health challenges confronting these populations, including chronic disease, infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS. The theme of the first biannual conference is "The Great Scattering: Solving the Puzzle of Slavery, Race, and Contemporary Health in the African Diaspora."
ICHAD2012 will be held from July 4 to July 8, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA and hosted by the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions.
SESSION TOPICS
The theme of ICHAD 2012 is "The Great Scattering: Connecting the Dots between Slavery and Contemporary Health in the African Diaspora." The first annual conference provides an opportunity to explore fundamental questions about the relationship between history and the contemporary health of the slave descendants in the Western Hemisphere.
Focusing primarily on the historical context of race and the social determinants of health, ICHAD 2012 will explore cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary topics in public health and social science.
Session topics include:
• History of the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean: An historical comparison of slavery and the lived experience of "race" in the region and the implications for contemporary black health and racial inequities in the social determinants of health.
■ How did the peculiar experience of slavery and subsequent forms of racial subjugation fundamentally transform African descent populations in the Western Hemisphere?
■ What are the implications of this human experience for understanding both the commonalities and differences in health status among today's slave descendants in the region?
■ What does it tell us about the enduring health differences between whites and blacks? What does it portend for the divergent public health trajectories of blacks and whites in the Western Hemisphere?
• Conceptualizing Race in the Western Hemisphere: A cross-country comparison of the meaning and utility of "race."
■ How is race defined and interpreted in the Western Hemisphere? How (and why) does the concept differ throughout the region?
■ In what ways has race been functionalized across segments of society, including the health sciences, politics and governance, and the healthcare market?
■ What conceptual challenges does the illusive concept of race pose for understanding the historical and contemporary experience of slave descendants in the region, and how might the concept of race best inform how we understand—and respond to—racial differences in health in the Western Hemisphere?
• Health Status of Slave Descendants in the Western Hemisphere: a composite profile of the health of 60 million descendants of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
■ What major health challenges confront the African Diaspora in the Western Hemisphere? How do these challenges vary within and between countries and sub-populations?
■ What can we learn from the commonalities and differences in these health patterns? How should this inform our prevailing public health paradigms for addressing chronic disease, maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, accidents and injuries, and other health challenges in the African Diaspora?
• Nature versus Nurture: the implications of race-based genomics for the growing movement to address the social determinants of health and eliminate racial disparities in health in the African Diaspora.
■ What does the human genome reveal about race as a biological construct?
■ Why have biological interpretations of race been increasingly used by researchers and practitioners in public health and medicine? What are the actual possibilities and limitations for using genetics and genomics to improve public health interventions and prevent, diagnose, and control disease?
■ Does the de-politicization of race divert attention away from the need for social transformation and redirect resources to market-based approaches for achieving racial inequality in health? Is racial equality in health biologically achievable?
• The Social Determinants of Health: An exploration of health and the "black experience" throughout the Diaspora, including commonalities and variance in living conditions, education, health care access, psychosocial stressors, and racism and discrimination.
■ What do we know about the social determinants of health? How do these forces manifest in the African Diaspora of the Western Hemisphere, and how do they vary within and between countries and subpopulations of African descendants?
■ What are the legacies of slavery and how do they bear upon black health in the region? How can we best describe the relationship between the history of slavery, the social construct of race, and nearly ubiquitous phenomenon of racial disparities in health in the region?
■ What are the implications of the legacy of slavery and the social determinants of health for guiding 21st century research, praxis, and policy?
• Pathways to Partnership: Moving to solutions through vision, unity, and transformation.
■ What are the most promising paradigms for improving the health of African descendants and closing the racial gap in health in the Western hemisphere?
■ What new research directions might be pursued to more fully investigate the relationship between health and the human experience for slave descendants?
■ What overarching strategies should guide research, praxis and policy in the region?
■ How might scholars, health workers, advocates, community leaders, policymakers, and media forge more fruitful partnerships to guide the transformation of black health in the 21st century?
CONTACT US
For more information please contact:
John Sankofa,
ICHAD Project Director
info@ICHAD.org
(410) 955-6243 – Office
(410) 614-8964 – Fax
Or mail your inquiries to:
International Conference on Health in the African Diaspora
Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Department of Health Policy and Management
624 N. Broadway, Suite 331
Baltimore, MD, USA 21205
