Halifax to host 1st annual International Black Health Conference this fall

The first annual International Black Health Conference is coming to Halifax in October.

The three-day conference will give health professionals, educators, policymakers and community members from across Canada and the United States the chance to talk about the best ways to address and improve health disparities in Black communities.

"We want to look at the disproportionate structural inequalities that impact Black communities and how that creates health disparities in diverse Black communities in Nova Scotia [and] more broadly in Canada and globally," Ingrid Waldron, a professor and HOPE Chair in Peace and Health at McMaster University in Ontario, told CBC Radio's Mainstreet on Monday.

Waldron, who previously taught in the faculty of health at Dalhousie University in Halifax, is one of the organizers of the event scheduled for Oct. 6-8 at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront.

She said the conference is framed around structural determinants of health.

"In other words, how does education, criminal justice, immigration, unemployment, green space, the built environment — how do those things contribute to poor health outcomes?" she said.

"And that term structural competence is really about those things — how do we become, as professionals, advocates for our clients and advocates for people's health?"

To hear more about the event, listen to host Jeff Douglas's full interview with Waldron below.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians — from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community — check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.