What would you do with $15,000 to improve women’s health?
We are excited to announce a new initiative in women’s health to support grassroots projects across the province. The $15K Challenge will award $15,000 or more to various organizations who can help advance the health of women and girls.
d’bi,young anitafrika through the art(is)t shaman collective, partnered with Women’s Health In Women’s Hands, was awarded the $15K Challenge grant from Womens’ College Hospital to use The Sorplusi Method to help advance the health of women.
Black communities utilize and receive far less critical diagnosis and treatment significantly later than other populations. Many of these communities needs do not conform to Canadian systems of health care delivery which are based primarily on a biomedical, mono cultural model. Black womyn in particular bear the burden of our health systems’ inability to address health disparities with statistics like: 66% of all new HIV infections in Toronto (Remis Report 2008) and the least likely group to access mental health services in Toronto (WHIWH Report: Racism as a Health Risk for Young Women of Color 2003). That compounded with the likelihood of facing discrimination in the health care system only makes more critical the nature of this proposal. Black womyn, 18-29, residing in the GTA will use the SORPLUSI methodology to excavate for themselves the realities of navigating their own holistic health and the health care system in Toronto. This project will look at the impact of the socio-political construct of the institution of health while working to develop culturally and linguistically appropriate dialogue to get an accurate sense of the health needs of Black womyn.
