Oprah Winfrey Network Launches Company's First-Ever Black Women's Health Initiative

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, the leading network for Black women, announced TODAY their first ever OWN YOUR HEALTH initiative, a campaign partnering with health equity leaders to provide tools and resources that will empower Black women to own their health in 2021 and beyond.

View the OWN YOUR HEALTH Launch Spot below featuring the song "Stand Up For Something" by Grammy and Academy Award-winner Common and Academy Award-nominee Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) and voice-over by Ms. Day.

OWN YOUR HEALTH aims to bring awareness, education, resources, and a sense of community to address the unique health concerns facing Black women today. This multi-platform campaign is designed to inspire and encourage the OWN audience to put herself and her health and well-being first. OWN YOUR HEALTH expands on the success of OWN's first ever pro social campaign OWN YOUR VOTE, a bipartisan registration and get-out-the-vote initiative that partnered with national and local grassroots and voting rights organizations during the 2020 elections.

OWN YOUR HEALTH leads with powerful narratives and actions exploring the full range of mental, physical and social/emotional well-being by launching new initiatives quarterly. The goal is to provide messaging and tools that are informed, educational, relevant, and up to date with the latest developments as it relates to health and wellness. The campaign also provides opportunities for OWN brand partners to support with resources and promote healthier lifestyles.

Key insights from leading public health, academic, and professional health organizations show that Black women have higher rates of many illnesses including hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, stroke, and lupus and this is often attributed to a lack of access to quality healthcare including fewer early screenings for prevention, as well as lack of proper follow-up care. Additionally, Black health disparities often exist as a result of unique stressors faced by Black people such as systemic racism within and outside of the United States healthcare system, racial segregation of neighborhoods, and racism-related chronic psychosocial stress. These disparities underscore a year of tragic and traumatic events in 2020 and the anniversaries of those events in 2021, COVID-19, and a lack of Black health care providers and specialists. These are just a few key considerations affecting health outcomes, lack of health equity across socioeconomic status and medical mistrust in the Black community. With these issues in mind, the OWN YOUR HEALTH campaign focuses on addressing the physical, mental and social/emotional aspects of health for and about Black women.

OWN YOUR HEALTH focuses on three key pillars affecting Black women's health:

• Proactive Prevention - including routine screenings, nutrition, physical activity, health education and accountability.
• The Unspoken - including fertility, motherhood, sexual and relationship health, trauma, financial health, and treatment options.
• Superwoman - source of pressure many Black women regularly experience - the obligation to project an image of strength and to suppress emotions, to resist accepting help or admitting vulnerability and prioritizing caregiving to others and community to the detriment of self.

"At OWN, we are always striving to meet our audience where she is and to serve her needs. This important initiative supports and empowers Black women, and it has never been more critical to use our wide-reaching platform to ensure they have the tools and resources needed to improve their health and well-being." said Tina Perry, president OWN. "COVID-19 and the racial justice movement have also highlighted the need for urgent policy reform to balance disparities that exist in healthcare for Black women and we look forward to working with our distinguished advisory council on this campaign that will support and uplift our community."

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