The first Annual Black Child Clean Air Conference to be held on Clean Air Day
The first Annual Black Child Clean Air Conference has been announced for Thursday 15th June, to coincide with Clean Air Day.
The conference will be held at the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in London and hosted by Agnes Agyepong, the founder and CEO of Global Black Maternal Health, an organisation committed to ‘placing research and agency back into the hands of Black communities as leaders and change agents in their own health narratives’.
Black communities in London are more likely to breathe illegal levels of air pollution than White or Asian communities. As we reported last year, Research undertaken by the Runnymeade Trust UK and Greenpeace UK identified the disproportional impact of the climate crisis on non-white people. So-called ‘air pollution sacrifice areas’ exist, where low cost private and social housing, high levels of deprivation, limited or non-existent access to green spaces and highly diverse demographics meet pollution-heavy infrastructure such as recycling centres, industrial sites, and incinerators
Furthermore, it is known that pregnant women exposed to air pollution are more likely to have children who are premature, underweight or stillborn and to have reduced live birth rate and maternal depressive symptoms.
In certain communities, babies are more likely to die due to increased levels of air pollution. A black British baby is 80% more likely to die, and an Asian British baby is 60% more likely to die.
This is why Global Black Maternal Health spoke to over 200 London-based black pregnant women or women who have been pregnant in the last five years for the first time, to determine black mothers’ knowledge, behaviours and attitudes to air pollution so that we can drive real, actionable change from within. The results will be revealed at the conference.
Confirmed speakers include Kelechi Okafor, a British Nigerian actress who has lived in London since she was five years old. Kelechi studied at the highly regarded BRIT School of performing arts specialising in Musical Theatre. Also speaking will be Dr Karen Joash is a leading London Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist.
Click here to register for free.
I’m puzzled. I thoguht we were not supposed to make dinstinctions between groups of people any more based on their skin colour or culture here in the UK? Socially & politically incorrect and prejudiced? If the title, indeed the whole conference, talked about “White Child Clean Air ..”, a big fuss would surely be made in the press, wouldn’t it? And is it really “black communities” (whatever those are …) in London that we are talking abiout here? Isn’t it really more about areas where people have a lower income and (perhaps) poorer quality housing? Regardless of their skin colour? Please tell me mroe and pass this on to the Global Black Maternal Health Group. Thank you.