The Black Health Matters Foundation launched Our Health Our Wellness Today April 1, 2026, a month-long observance designed to address the health disparities that continue to affect Black and Brown communities across the country. The initiative, referred to as OHOW, centers on prevention, early intervention and improved access to health resources, with the longer-term goal of sustaining those efforts well beyond April.
The foundation describes OHOW as a response to a persistent gap between health outcomes in Black and Brown communities and those of the broader population. The initiative offers resources in both English and Spanish, reflecting an understanding that language access is itself a health equity issue. Content covers a range of conditions that disproportionately affect these communities including Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, chronic kidney disease, heart health, mental health and vaccination guidance.
The thinking behind it
Roslyn Y. Daniels, the CEO and founder of Black Health Matters, framed OHOW around a practical goal rather than an abstract one. She wants people to understand what is affecting their health, feel equipped to talk to their doctors about it and know what steps to take afterward. The initiative is built around the idea that health literacy is inseparable from health outcomes, and that communities historically underserved by the medical establishment need tools that meet them where they are rather than where the system assumes they are.
The initiative was introduced to healthcare professionals at the American Academy of Cardiologists Conference on March 28, before its public launch. The Black Health Matters team used the conference to build awareness among clinicians and gather support from within the medical community. The response, according to the foundation, reinforced the demand for this kind of coordinated community-facing health resource.
What the initiative includes
The OHOW website serves as the central hub for the initiative, hosting educational content organized around the health conditions the foundation has identified as most pressing for its audience. The content is designed to support behavioral change over time rather than serve as a one-time reference, with prevention and early detection as consistent themes throughout.
The initiative also includes a webinar series running through April that brings medical experts into direct conversation with community members. The first session, scheduled for April 8, addresses the role of vaccines in long-term wellness. A second session on April 14 focuses on daily habits and cancer prevention. Two additional sessions later in the month cover living with cancer and emerging developments in cancer treatment, both scheduled for late April.
The webinars are held via Zoom and are open to the public. Registration details are available through the OHOW website.
Why the timing matters
Health initiatives aimed at Black and Brown communities exist against a backdrop of documented and persistent inequity. Black Americans face higher rates of hypertension, diabetes and certain cancers than white Americans, and are more likely to receive a later diagnosis when they do seek care. Structural barriers including cost, geography, distrust of medical institutions and lack of culturally competent providers contribute to outcomes that reflect system-level failures as much as individual choices.
OHOW is not positioned as a solution to those structural problems on its own. But the foundation’s approach, which combines accessible language, bilingual resources and expert-led programming, is aimed at giving individuals more agency within a system that has not always worked in their favor. Daniels has described the initiative as a movement rather than a program, language that signals an intention to sustain the work past a single month.
What comes next
The foundation has indicated that OHOW’s programming and resources will remain available beyond April, with the initiative framed as an ongoing effort rather than a seasonal campaign. The webinar series represents the April component of a broader push to build health literacy and advocacy capacity in communities that have historically lacked both.
For communities navigating a healthcare environment that has frequently overlooked their specific needs, an initiative designed explicitly around their health priorities and delivered in their language represents a meaningful shift in how health information reaches the people who most need it.
