Better Health Through Better Understanding
April is National Minority Health Month (NMHM), a time to raise awareness about the importance of improving the health of racial and ethnic minority communities and reducing health disparities. Learn more about NMHM.
The 2023 NMHM theme is Better Health Through Better Understanding. Join NIMHD, our partners across NIH, and the Office of Minority Health (OMH), as we share resources to address health literacy, language access, and more.
Celebrated every year in April, National Minority Health Month:
Builds awareness about the disproportionate burden of premature death and illness in people from racial and ethnic minority groups.
Encourages action through health education, early detection and control of disease complications.
The origin of National Minority Health Month was the 1915 establishment of National Negro Health Week by Booker T. Washington. In 2002, National Minority Health Month received support from the U.S. Congress with a concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 388) that “a National Minority Health and Health Disparities Month should be established to promote educational efforts on the health problems currently facing minorities and other health disparity populations.” The resolution encouraged “all health organizations and Americans to conduct appropriate programs and activities to promote healthfulness in minority and other health disparity communities.”