New research centre dedicated to the study of health in Black communities

BY PAUL JUNOR

The announcement of a new research centre dedicated to the study of health in Black communities by the University of Ottawa is truly timely and important.

The University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) reported the news in a press release on June 24^th, 2021. It can be seen at the website: socialsciences.uottawa.ca.

The creation of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health (ICBH) will be, ”Canada’s first academic research centre entirely dedicated to the study of the biological, social, and cultural determinants of physical and mental health in the country’s Black communities.” The research centre will involve research teams from five faculties: Common and Civil Law, Medicine, Health Sciences and Social Sciences, as well as five-affiliated hospital research institutes.

The mission of ICBH is to “Promote equity in health for Black communities through rigorous, interdisciplinary, innovative research and community and social engagement.” The priorities of ICBH are to, “Play a national leadership role in research on the physical and mental health of Black communities,”

The website: https://www.news-medical.net indicated on October 20^th, 2021 that ICBH was the brainchild of Dr Jude Mary Cenat, Associate Professor of Psychology in the FSS and founder of University of Ottawa’s Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience and Culture Research Laboratory (V-TRaC Lab). Her research “Sheds insights into the mental health state of Black communities in Canada, and expects the ICBH to take a leadership role in identifying priorities in research on the physical and mental health of Canada’s Black communities among children, adolescents, men and women.” Dr. Cenat hopes that ICBH will address urgent needs among Blacks:

• Including issues related to health disparities
• Developing tools to inform healthcare training
• Proposing evidence-based standards, strategies, and policies

Dr. Cenat states, “There are inseparable links between physical health and mental health. A person who experiences racial discrimination and develops depression is also likely to experience severe stress and may develop diabetes, high blood pressure and potentially kidney problems.” The virtual launch of ICBH was held on Thursday, October 21^st, 2021 and Ciku Gitonga reported about it in an article at the website https://thefulcrum.ca.

Dr. Cenat, one of the speakers at the launch states, “The idea for the centre is from a study I participated in on Black mental health that was funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. In that project, we found that there was a very strong link between mental and physical health. I spoke about addressing these issues in the Black community with the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Victoria Barham. Under her leadership, I started the consultation process to build a research team.” Five specific areas of research axes will be:

1. Prevention and management of chronic disease
2. Infectious diseases
3. Mental health and public health
4. Population and public health
5. Child and adolescent health

Dr. Cenat notes that with respect to the staff composition and objectives of ICBH there will be an intersectional approach that will be utilized. He states, “The Centre also has a collegial leadership structure that allows us to ground ourselves in the community. What I mean is that at the Centre, we do not work for the Black community, we want to work with the Black community.”

One of ICBH’s first research projects will examine vaccinations in the Black community. Dr. Cenat states, “This is one of the communities with the most hesitation on vaccination. We have to know why, the risk factors, the reasons, so that we can address this. I think it is about trust.”

For him, the colour-blind attitude that many Canadians have prevents them from seeing the health effects of racism and the role of ICBH to alter this perception. He concludes, “We have to try to push and this is what the centre will do.”