Every Christian should be concerned about the inequality in healthcare for Black people

Dr Chukwuemeka “Chuks” Nwuba, author of Eating Disorders Don’t Discriminate explains that people assume Black people don’t struggle with eating disorders and it means their care is not up to standard

I jolted myself awake with my snoring, and looked across at my phone to see what time it was. It was 1am. Argh! I had fallen asleep on the couch and had only just missed a super-important video call with a contributing writer from the US. Fortunately, the writer and their team had mercy on me (no doubt the frantic, panicked emails heavily laden with apologies, that I had sent them shortly afterwards, helped). We managed to reschedule.

The process of writing can be challenging at times. There’s the sheer scale of research that may need to happen, there’s writers’ block, and there’s Publisher deadlines. But one of the toughest things about writing and curating my upcoming book Eating Disorders Don’t Discriminate—apart from the umpteen number of video calls at different time zones that needed to happen—was truly appreciating the extent of health disparities that exist in Black people. The book seeks to dismantle various misconceptions around what eating disorders look like and who they impact (race, age, gender, body type and socioeconomic status). It also showcases how one can begin to understand one’s own journey of body acceptance and recovery, and support those struggling in silence. For too long, the assumption has been that Black individuals are immune from suffering eating disorders. We now know that could not be further from the truth. Such ignorance has led to disparities in eating disorder-related outcomes for Black people.