Why contribute to Wikipedia?  |  Key links for the Black Health Edit-a-thon (Feb 27, 2025): Slides, exercises, tasks, & Black History Edit-a-thon Dashboard  |  How to contribute to Wikipedia  |  Editing Tips |  Resources and tips for identifying, editing ,and assessing medical topics in Wikipedia  |  Writing Tips  |  Evaluating Sources to Cite in A Wikipedia Article  |  Finding and Using Images  |  Potential topics to edit/create  |  Freely available resources  |  Further Resources

With global reach and accessible articles, Wikipedia is often where people begin their research on many topics, including health, even though Wikipedia's nature as a crowd-sourced encyclopedia means its content is sometimes unreliable (Smith, 2023; Heilman et al. 2011). The homogeneity of Wikipedia's volunteer editors has also led to documented racial and gender bias in its content (Wikipedia contributors, 2025; Lemieux et al, 2023; Mandiberg, 2023).

On the other hand, Wikipedia's nature as a crowd-sourced encyclopedia also means that anyone can help improve it. By fixing typos, editing content to remove bias or improve clarity, and ensuring articles rely on quality sources, we can all make Wikipedia better. Those with access to high-quality sources and the expertise to summarize them well can do even more to ensure that reliable, trustworthy health information is widely available.

Consider making your first Wikipedia edit today. Every small improvement builds a better knowledge ecosystem.

• Wikipedia contributors. (2025, January 29). Racial bias on Wikipedia. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:19, February 22, 2025, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Racial_bias_on_Wikipedia&oldid=1272589788
• Smith, D. A. (2023). It’s Time to Recognize Wikipedia as a Health Information Resource. Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, 27(2), 210–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/15398285.2023.2211498
• Lemieux, M. E., Zhang, R., & Tripodi, F. (2023). “Too Soon” to count? How gender and race cloud notability considerations on Wikipedia. Big Data & Society, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/20539517231165490
• Heilman JM, Kemmann E, Bonert M, Chatterjee A, Ragar B, Beards GM, Iberri DJ, Harvey M, Thomas B, Stomp W, Martone MF, Lodge DJ, Vondracek A, de Wolff JF, Liber C, Grover SC, Vickers TJ, Meskó B, Laurent MR. Wikipedia: a key tool for global public health promotion. J Med Internet Res. 2011 Jan 31;13(1):e14. doi: 10.2196/jmir.1589. PMID: 21282098; PMCID: PMC3221335.
• Mandiberg, M. (2023). Wikipedia’s Race and Ethnicity Gap and the Unverifiability of Whiteness. Social Text, 41(1), 21–46. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-10174954

Black Histories Wikipedia Edit-a-thon: Black Health Edition slides (Feb 2025)

• Access the Feb 27 edit-a-thon Google Slides to follow along.

How can you get started in Wikipedia?

Improve old stuff:

• Link to existing pages
• Cite reliable sources
• Add a sentence

Suggest or write new stuff:

• Create a new page
• Starting a new page (from Wikipedia Simple English)

Do you think there's a gap on a certain Black Health topic, but aren't ready to contribute to a Wikipedia article yet?  Submit an article request, or suggest a redirection if you think there's an article that needs a better spot in Wikipedia!

You may want to use an image to accompany your article, to add important context and help readers better digest or visualize the textual content. can Freely usable images (and other media files) can be found in these sources:

• Wikimedia Commons
• Free Images: Creative Commons and Public Domain - Guide that includes sources of public domain and Creative Common collections, and image collections from library databases)
• PHIL (Public Health Image Library) - from the CDC. Contains historical public health-related images.
• Using Images and Data  - Guide that includes sources of icons, as well as public domain and Creative Commons images.

If you can't find a suitable image, you can also upload images to Wikimedia Commons, as long as they are works you created entirely yourself.

Don't know which topics to write about?

• Take a look at these suggestions on using Citation Hunt and tasklists.
• Check out this Black Health Tasklist (a list of potential pages that can be created or edited on Black Health leaders and emerging topics)

As a starting point, see below for a list of sources on various Black Health topics:

AI and racial bias

• Mitre M, Hosein S, Mitri A, Kurtansky NR, Mancebo SE, Fonseca M, Marchetti MA (2024). Dermatoscopic features and potential pitfalls of artificial intelligence-based analysis of benign acral pigmented lesions in black patients: a multicenter observational study. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 91(1), 146-148.
• Wang Q, Gupta V, Cao A, Gangula P, Xie H, Singh R, Shanker A (2024). Enhancing data science and genomics capacity of a historically black medical college through interdisciplinary training and research collaborations. Journal Biotechnology & Biomedicine, 7(4), 425-432.
• Kamulegeya L, Bwanika J, Okello M, Rusoke D, Nassiwa F, Lubega W, Borve A (2023). Using artificial intelligence on dermatology conditions in uganda: a case for diversity in training data sets for machine learning. African Health Sciences, 23(2), 753-763.
• Zolnoori M, Vergez S, Xu Z, Esmaeili E, Zolnour A, Anne Briggs K, McDonald MV (2024). Decoding disparities: evaluating automatic speech recognition system performance in transcribing black and white patient verbal communication with nurses in home healthcare. Jamia Open, 7(4), ooae130.

Children’s Health

• Fadus, M.C., Ginsburg, K.R., Sobowale, K. et al. Unconscious Bias and the Diagnosis of Disruptive Behavior Disorders and ADHD in African American and Hispanic Youth. Acad Psychiatry 44, 95–102 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40596-019-01127-6 
• Volpe VV, Skinner OD, Del Toro J, Collins AN, Mejía-Bradford SC. Intersections of Structural State-Level Racism and Neighborhood Deprivation on Nutrition and Obesity for Black Adolescents. J Adolesc Health. 2025 Mar;76(3):429-434. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2024.10.020. Epub 2024 Dec 30. PMID: 39736052
• Heaton, T.B., Crookston, B., Pierce, H. et al. Social inequality and children’s health in Africa: a cross sectional study. Int J Equity Health 15, 92 (2016).

COVID-19

• Timothy R, Chin-See RA, Martyniuk J, Djiadeu P. The National and Global Impact of Systemic and Structural Violence on the Effective Prevention, Treatment, and Management of COVID-19 in African or Black Communities: Protocol for a Scoping Review. JMIR Res Protoc. 2022 Oct 17;11(10):e40381. doi: 10.2196/40381. PMID: 36219749; PMCID: PMC9578518.
• Laster Pirtle WN, & Wright T (2021). Structural Gendered Racism Revealed in Pandemic Times: Intersectional Approaches to Understanding Race and Gender Health Inequities in COVID-19. Gender & Society, 35(2), 168–179. 10.1177/08912432211001302
• Williams DR, Cooper LA. COVID-19 and Health Equity—A New Kind of “Herd Immunity”. JAMA. 2020;323(24):2478–2480. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.8051 link:
• Kemei, J., & Salami, B. (2022). A Understanding the Health and Well-being of Canadian Black Children and Youth during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review. International Health Trends and Perspectives, 2(1), 118-128.
• Baid D, Yun B, Zang E. Explaining the higher COVID-19 mortality rates among disproportionately Black counties: A decomposition analysis. SSM-Population Health. 2023 Jun 1;22:101360.

For additional references, check out the COVID-19 section of this guide.

Dermatology

• Anthony MR, Abdi P, Farkouh C, Maibach HI. Unmasking Racial Disparity in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa. Cureus. 2023 Jun 30;15(6):e41190. doi: 10.7759/cureus.41190. PMID: 37525757; PMCID: PMC10387178.
• Mahendraraj K, Sidhu K, Lau CSM, McRoy GJ, Chamberlain RS, Smith FO. Malignant Melanoma in African-Americans: A Population-Based Clinical Outcomes Study Involving 1106 African-American Patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Result (SEER) Database (1988-2011). Medicine (Baltimore). 2017 Apr;96(15):e6258.
• Higgins S, Nazemi A, Feinstein S, Chow M, Wysong A. Clinical Presentations of Melanoma in African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. Dermatol Surg. 2019 Jun;45(6):791-801. doi: 10.1097/DSS.0000000000001759. PMID: 30614836
• Kailas A, Solomon JA, Mostow EN, Rigel DS, Kittles R, Taylor SC. Gaps in the understanding and treatment of skin cancer in people of color. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2016 May;74(5):1020-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2015.11.028. PMID: 27085237.

Diabetes

• Magny-Normilus C, Luppino F, Lyons K, Luu J, Taylor JY. Food insecurity and diabetes management among adults of African descent: A systematic review. Diabet Med. 2024 Oct;41(10):e15398. doi: 10.1111/dme.15398. Epub 2024 Jul 11. PMID: 38990834; PMCID: PMC11486604.
• Whitehouse CR, Akyirem S, Petoskey C, Huang S, Lendvai D, Batten J, Whittemore R. A Systematic Review of Interventions That Address Food Insecurity for Persons With Prediabetes or Diabetes Using the RE-AIM Framework. Sci Diabetes Self Manag Care. 2024 Apr;50(2):141-166. doi: 10.1177/26350106241232649. Epub 2024 Mar 28. PMID: 38545669.
• Iduye D, Wild S, Ostrishko K, Macdonald M, Helwig M, Iduye S, Jefferies K. Lifestyle interventions for type 2 diabetes prevention in children and adolescents of African descent in OECD countries: a systematic review protocol. JBI Evid Synth. 2022 May 1;20(5):1392-1403. doi: 10.11124/JBIES-21-00179. PMID: 35199655.

Environmental exposure

• Environmental Racism and Climate Change: Determinants of Health in Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotian Communities
• Berberian AG, Gonzalez DJX, Cushing LJ. Racial Disparities in Climate Change-Related Health Effects in the United States. Curr Environ Health Rep. 2022 Sep;9(3):451-464. doi: 10.1007/s40572-022-00360-w. Epub 2022 May 28. PMID: 35633370; PMCID: PMC9363288.
• Leap SR, Soled DR, Sampath V, Nadeau KC. Effects of extreme weather on health in underserved communities. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2024 Jul;133(1):20-27. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2024.04.018. Epub 2024 Apr 21. PMID: 38648975; PMCID: PMC11222027.
• Beard, S., Freeman, K., Velasco, M.L. et al. Racism as a public health issue in environmental health disparities and environmental justice: working toward solutions. Environ Health 23, 8 (2024).
• Yannatos I, Stites S, Brown RT, McMillan CT. Contributions of neighborhood social environment and air pollution exposure to Black-White disparities in epigenetic aging. PLoS One. 2023 Jul 5;18(7):e0287112.

Food Security

• Tsai, Marisa M., Epel, Elissa S., Tomiyama, A. Janet, Leung, Cindy W., Mujahid, Mahasin S. & Laraia, Barbara A.. Intragenerational and intergenerational transmission of food insecurity: an analysis of black and white women and children from the NHLBI growth and health study. Journal of Nutrition, 155 (1): 305-313
• Berning, Joshua, Bonanno, Alessandro & Cleary, Rebecca. Disparities in food insecurity among Black and White households: an analysis by age cohort, poverty, education, and home ownership. Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 46 (1): 234-254
• Greene M, Houghtaling B, Sadeghzadeh C, De Marco M, Morgan R, Holston D. Nutrition interventions addressing structural racism: a scoping review. Nutrition Research Reviews. 2023 Jun;36(1):155-74. 
• Smith II B, Simon JW, Gwin CS, McMillion D. “What does Ferguson mean for the food justice movement?”: Reading Black visions of food justice in times of social unrest. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. 2024 Aug 9;13(4):1-5.

Housing

• Robinson JRM, Hastert TA, Beebe-Dimmer JL, Schwartz AG, Ruterbusch JJ, Pandolfi SS, Rundle AG. Housing instability and psychological distress in African American cancer survivors: findings from the Detroit Research on Cancer Survivors study. J Cancer Surviv. 2025 Feb;19(1):356-364. doi: 10.1007/s11764-023-01471-5. Epub 2023 Oct 6. PMID: 37798594; PMCID: PMC11181878.
• Krueger E, Deal E, Lopez AA, Dressel AE, Graf MDC, Schmitt M, Hawkins M, Pittman B, Kako P, Mkandawire-Valhmu L. Successful substance use disorder recovery in transitional housing: Perspectives from African American women. Exp Clin Psychopharmacol. 2022 Oct;30(5):714-724. doi: 10.1037/pha0000527. Epub 2022 Feb 24. PMID: 35201825
• Graf MDC, Dressel A, Schmitt M, Deal E, Pittman B, Lopez A, Kako P, Mkandawire-Valhmu L. 'I was broken in so many different ways': The intersection of complex factors impacting homeless and at-risk African American women's mental health and well-being. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2022 Feb;31(1):167-178. doi: 10.1111/inm.12946. Epub 2021 Oct 31. PMID: 34719091.
• Schmitt M, Dressel A, Del Carmen Graf M, Pittman B, Deal E, Krueger E, Lopez AA, Kako P, Mkandawire-Valhmu L. Adverse childhood experiences among previously homeless African American women. Public Health Nurs. 2022 Mar;39(2):446-455. doi: 10.1111/phn.12970. Epub 2021 Sep 19. PMID: 34537971.

Intersectionality

• Collins-Anderson A, Vahedi L, Hutson W, Hudson D. Intersectionality and Mental Health Among Emerging Adult Black American Men: a Scoping Review. Curr Psychiatry Rep. 2022 Dec;24(12):819-830. doi: 10.1007/s11920-022-01386-5. Epub 2022 Nov 30. PMID: 36449172; PMCID: PMC9994382.
• Bowleg L (2012). The Problem With the Phrase Women and Minorities: Intersectionality—an Important Theoretical Framework for Public Health. American Journal of Public Health, 102(7), 1267–1273. 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300750

Maternal Health

• Victorino CC, Gauthier AH. The social determinants of child health: variations across health outcomes - a population-based cross-sectional analysis. BMC Pediatr. 2009 Aug 17;9:53. doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-9-53. PMID: 19686599
• Brantley M. Black feminist theory in maternal health research: A review of concepts and future directions. Sociol Compass. 2023 May;17(5):e13083. doi: 10.1111/soc4.13083. Epub 2023 Feb 27. PMID: 37859646; PMCID: PMC10586323.
• Barlow JN, Johnson BM. Listen to Black Women: Do Black Feminist and Womanist Health Policy Analyses. Womens Health Issues. 2021 Mar-Apr;31(2):91-95. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2020.11.001. Epub 2020 Nov 20. PMID: 33229295.
• Garneau AW, Daly JL, Blair K, Minehart RD. Racism and Inequities in Maternal Health. Anesthesiol Clin. 2025 Mar;43(1):47-66. doi: 10.1016/j.anclin.2024.09.003. PMID: 39890322.

For additional references, check out the Maternal Health section of this guide.

Medical racism

• Hall OT, Trimble C, Garcia S, Grayson S, Joseph L, Entrup P, Jegede O, Martel JP, Tetrault J, Mathis M, Jordan A. Who feels safe calling 911: are prior experiences of anti-Black racial discrimination associated with hesitancy seeking emergency medical services in the event of accidental drug overdose? - a study protocol. Ann Med. 2025 Dec;57(1):2439540. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2024.2439540. Epub 2024 Dec 19. PMID: 39697058; PMCID: PMC11660366.
• Cayo S, Colbert A. The Relationship Between Perceived Discrimination and Blood Pressure in Black Adults: A Narrative Review. Am J Nurs. 2025 Mar 1;125(3):20-29. doi: 10.1097/AJN.0000000000000029. Epub 2025 Feb 20. PMID: 39972584.

Mental Health

• Smith NC, Nicholson HL. Perceived discrimination and mental health among African American and Caribbean Black adolescents: ethnic differences in processes and effects. Ethn Health. 2022 Apr;27(3):687-704. doi: 10.1080/13557858.2020.1814998. Epub 2020 Sep 25. PMID: 32977736.
• Clarke, J., Mills Minster, S., & Gudge, L. (2018). Public numbers, private pain: What is hidden behind the disproportionate removal of black children and youth from families by Ontario child welfare?. Today’s youth and mental health: Hope, power, and resilience, 187-209
• Taylor, D., & Richards, D. (2019). Triple jeopardy: Complexities of racism, sexism, and ageism on the experiences of mental health stigma among young Canadian Black Women of Caribbean descent. Frontiers in Sociology, 4, 43.
• Williams MT, Khanna Roy A, MacIntyre MP, Faber S. The Traumatizing Impact of Racism in Canadians of Colour. Curr Trauma Rep. 2022;8(2):17-34. doi: 10.1007/s40719-022-00225-5. Epub 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35345606; PMCID: PMC8943361.

Oral Health Disparities

• Gupta AK, Economopoulos V, Wang T, Piguet V. Epidemiological trends and healthcare disparities in onychomycosis: An analysis of the All of Us research program. PLoS One. 2025 Jan 14;20(1):e0316681. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0316681. PMID: 39808608.
• Yu J, Lin B, Zhang Z, Chen W, Lv W, Zheng L. Association between oral microbiome diversity and all-cause mortality: a longitudinal study of NHANES, 2009-2012. BMJ Open. 2024 Dec 20;14(12):e087288. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-087288. PMID: 39806633.
• Ghaffari A, Bradbury RF, Harman J. Racial Disparities in Access to Preventive Dental Services in Pediatric Population: A Secondary Data Analysis. Fam Community Health. 2025 Jan 8. doi: 10.1097/FCH.0000000000000425. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39774434.
• Wang Q, Wang BY, Williams S, Xie H. Diversity and Characteristics of the Oral Microbiome Associated with Self-Reported Ancestral/Ethnic Groups. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Dec 11;25(24):13303. doi: 10.3390/ijms252413303. PMID: 39769067; PMCID: PMC11677810.
• Testa A, Mijares L, Fu K, Jackson D, Gutierrez C, DeAngelis R, Ganson K, Nagata J, Mungia R. Race disparities in dental care use from adolescence to middle adulthood in the USA. J Epidemiol Community Health. 2024 Dec 25:jech-2024-223202. doi: 10.1136/jech-2024-223202. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39721741.

For additional references, check out the Oral Health section of this guide.

Seniors’ Health

• Hamlin AM, Weigand AJ, Clay OJ, Marsiske M, Wallace G, Dadson D, Thomas KR, Clark AL. The Independent and Interactive Effects of Economic Stability and Healthcare Access on 10-Year Cognitive Trajectories of Black/African American and White Older Adults from the ACTIVE Study. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 Jan 17;80(2):gbae196. doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbae196. PMID: 39665593; PMCID: PMC11740885.
• Walker AIB, Trani JF, Banks CF, Murphy SA, Zha W, Williams MM, Day GS, Zhu Y, Ances BM, Hill CV, Hudson DL, Babulal GM. Recruiting a prospective community cohort to study Alzheimer's disease and structural and social determinants of health among adults racialized as Black: The ARCHES cohort. Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2024 May 16;10(2):e12473. doi: 10.1002/trc2.12473. PMID: 38756718; PMCID: PMC11097001.
• Aging While Black: The Crisis Among Black Americans as They Grow Old (NAACP)

Master of Public Health in Black Health Program

• Master of Public Health: Black Health (Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto)
• U of T is launching a master’s program in public health to better serve Black communities (University Affairs)

It's recommended to cite accessible, independent, and up-to-date secondary sources in Wikipedia. Try to use sources that are:

• Peer-reviewed research & publications
  •  for health topics, usually systematic reviews offer the most comprehensive summary of all the evidence surrounding a specific research question, but the best evidence to search for (or that is even available on a topic) may vary depending on the research question being asked.
• Open Access, when possible
• News
• General/specialized encyclopedias

Guide on free health resources

This guide supports health sciences alumni entering healthcare professions in finding free high-quality health sciences resources and literature. The resources listed are freely available, and do not require paid subscriptions or affiliation with a specific institution. Some may require you to create a free account.