Reaffirming our commitment to social justice and sleep health equity.

In the past year since the unjust murder of George Floyd, alarming incidents of violence against Black people continue to highlight the deeply intrenched and systemic nature of racism, police brutality, and discrimination in America.      

Today, Project Sleep continues to stand firmly in solidarity with our Black community members and in furtherance of our commitments to fight racism and promote equity, diversity, and inclusion. 

Racism remains a major public health crisis in America and racial-ethnic minorities continue to be at higher risk of insufficient sleep and sleep disorders, with serious and perhaps even deadly consequences. Causes of sleep health disparities are complex and involve a combination of socioeconomic, environmental, and other factors. With almost no research on targeting sleep disorders diagnosis and treatments for racial/ethnic minorities, and limited funding for sleep disparities research, Project Sleep has worked to address these issues at a systems-level via advocacy.

Partnering with policy and sleep experts, we developed and published Project Sleep’s Policy Recommendations to  Address Sleep Health Disparities.

Addressing sleep health disparities is a guiding principle of Project Sleep’s advocacy program and is included in our 2021 Legislative Agenda. Through various channels, we are currently urging NIH to support emerging and ongoing activities focused on addressing sleep health disparities.

During the inaugural Sleep Advocacy Forum facilitated by Project Sleep on October 5, 2020, we featured a Special Emphasis Panel on Sleep Health Disparities. Watch the videos:

Further, Harmony Biosciences, LLC, recently referenced our policy recommendations as guidance in launching a new competitive grant opportunity, the Progress at the Heart Grant Program to fund innovative programs that address disparities, injustice, and inequities in the rare disease and sleep disorder community. 

In addition, we understand how important it is that our organization reflects the diversity represented in the world around us. Project Sleep is focused on making the sleep community more inclusive and elevating powerful and important Black voices. 

Looking Ahead

Discussions are underway to advance collaborations with Congressional leaders, researchers, patient advocates, and community leaders. If you’d like to get involved in future efforts to advance sleep equity, diversity, and inclusion, please sign up here.

Over this past year,  Project Sleep has taken steps forward, but more must and will be done. We will continue to take action and hold ourselves accountable in advocating for sleep health equity, and advancing diversity and inclusion within our organization and across the sleep space.

Other Posts of Interest

• Celebrating Black History Month
• Dr. Dayna Johnson’s presentation on sleep and environments
• Alida Abdullah’s story with sleep apnea
• Kristyn Beecher’s story with narcolepsy