Kaiser Health News and Science Friday from KFF investigate rising suicide rates among People of Color in first collaboration

KFF’s Kaiser Health News continues its expansion into audio storytelling, exploring rising suicide rates among blacks, Hispanics, and other colored communities in its first collaboration with Science Friday, the award-winning producer of high quality, trusted science news and educational programs.

Storytelling highlights tragic cases like that of 19-year-old Jamal Clay, who killed himself in his family’s garage in May 2020. Rafiah Maxie, Clay’s mother and social worker herself, shares her difficulties in providing psychiatric care for her son he needed and her efforts since his death to help others affected by violence, suicide and trauma in their community outside of Chicago.

Reported by KHN correspondent Aneri Pattani, the package includes Pattani’s digital story and a radio report broadcast today with longtime SciFri guest presenter John Dankosky and voices from families and experts. In their interview, Dankosky and Pattani discuss socioeconomic factors linked to suicide risk and the community-level solutions that could reverse its surge among black people in the United States

KHN’s initial collaboration with Science Friday builds on a strong tradition in audio journalism – including KHN’s longstanding partnership with NPR and dozens of its member stations to cover health and health issues from across the country, and the crowdsourcing investigation series with NPR and CBS, “Bill of the Month.”

KHN’s podcast family includes What the Health ?, An Arm and a Leg, and Where It Hurts, a co-production with St. Louis Public Radio. In other audio collaborations, KHN recently worked with This American Life and Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Read the story and listen to the radio segment.

About KFF and KHN

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism on health topics. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operational programs of the KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is a non-profit foundation that provides the country with information on health issues.

Via Science Friday

The Science Friday Initiative, a non-profit initiative, aims to improve public access to science and scientific information. WNYC Studios distributes the radio show, which is broadcast on over 400 public radio stations in the United States. The initiative produces a wide range of educational and fun science experiences, including videos, podcasts, and live events that serve hundreds of thousands of lifelong learners each year.