Lupus is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease with no cure that can damage any part of the body, including skin, joints and organs. Women of color are two to three times more likely to develop lupus than Caucasian females.
Because of this, The Essence Music Festival, which is mainly attended by African-Americans, brought awareness of the condition at an event that hosted approximately 400,000 people over the three-day weekend.
“With celebrities, such as Toni Braxton, Seal, and recently Selena Gomez, informing the public of their lupus diagnosis, the Directors of Health Promotion & Education (DHPE) thought it important to attend the Essence Music Festival to increase awareness about lupus,” stated DHPE Assistant Health Equity Director Thometta Cozart, MS, MPH, CPH, CHES.
DHPE, a national public health association in Washington-DC, has recently been awarded funding by the national Office of Minority Health, US Department of Health and Human Services to increase lupus awareness nationwide, especially among African American women of childbearing age.
One of the objectives of the DHPE LEAP Program is to create effective partnerships to increase exposure to lupus education, improve access to resources for patients and reduce lupus related health disparities.
Next on the LEAP tour is the International Conference of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. in Orlando, FL held July 6-10, 2016. Then it’s off to the National Black Nurses Association Annual Conference in Memphis, TN held August 2-7, 2016.
If your organization is interested in working with the DHPE LEAP Program, please contact Thometta Cozart at tcozart@dhpe.org and visit the program website at bit.ly/dhpelupus.
OTHER LUPUS EDUCATION RESOURCES:http://bit.ly/lupusCME
CME Online Trainings for Clinicians, http://bit.ly/lupusCME
CHES Online Trainings for Public Health Professionals, http://bit.ly/lupusCHES
