Blacks with diabetes are more likely than Whites to have their total cholesterol percent of those diagnosed with diabetes had their blood pressure under …
NBNA BRIEFING PAPER ON
ELIMINATING HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES
Eliminating health disparities is one of the most pressing challenges
facing the Nation on all fronts Report upon report outline racial and
ethnic disparities in health and health care At issue are access, quality
and accountability to culturally competent health care services The IOM
study entitled, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic
Disparities in Health Care, documented disparities in quality of health
care that are NOT due to access -related or solely economic factors It
focused on disparities related to how health care systems operate,
including their regulatory and legal context, and to discrimination The
IOM report confirmed that cultural and linguistic competence is essential
to helping to close the gaps in mortality and morbidity
The 2003 National Healthcare Disparities Report developed by the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality AHRQ offered a comprehensive tool to
measure access and use of health care services by various populations
In its 2005 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities report released on
January 9, 2006, AHRQ
reported that access to care for African Americans
was narrowing Improvements were observed among non-Hispanic Whites and
Non-Hispanic Blacks relative to blood pressure control Yet,
cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of African Americans Only
40 percent of those diagnosed with diabetes have their HbA1c under optimal
control 7 percent Blacks with diabetes are more likely than Whites to
have their total cholesterol under control Only 70 percent of those
diagnosed with diabetes had their blood pressure under control Rates of
late-stage breast cancer decreased more rapidly from 1992 to 2002 among
black women 169 to 161 per 100,000 women than among white women 152 to
151 per 100,000, resulting in a narrowing disparity Yet, Black women
had higher rates of advanced state breast cancer than White women in 1992,
1993, 2002
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System BRFSS, a random telephone
survey conducted by state health department and the CDC; and the National
Health and Nutrition Examination Survey NHANES 1999-2002 found that
Blacks had the highest prevalence of hypertension, the highest self-report
prevalence of diagnosed diabetes and the highest rate of
hospitalizations
for stroke
Over 40 million Americans are uninsured and millions lack adequate care
Communities of color have a higher incidence of chronic diseases,
cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, violence and HIV/AIDS, leading to
high rates of morbidity and mortality 20 million Americans have
diabetes; it is estimated that 20 million Americans have undiagnosed
diabetes 27 million African Americans aged 20 and older have diabetes
African Americans develop diabetes at 16 times the rate of whites
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure and African Americans are
more likely to suffer from kidney disease According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, the incidence of diabetes is expected to
double by the year 2050 and healthcare costs associated with diabetes
exceeded 132 billion in 2002 African Americans account for 50 percent
of new AIDS cases in 2002
The staggering statistics related to these disease states are only a
snapshot of the continuing pain and suffering, let alone the economic
impact that continues to plague our communities While advances in
prevention, diagnosis and treatment, particularly through biomedical
research and
technology, offer incredible promise for improved health and
delivery of care, for a good number of this Nations citizens, this dire
state of health continues
The questions that must be addressed are:
What is being done to expand health insurance coverage for the uninsured?
How is the latest biomedical research and technology being used to help
close the disparities gap?
Can more appropriate dispensing of first tier drugs for certain chronic
conditions improve the health disparities gap?
Why are African Americans less likely to get the expensive, newer
treatments?
How can more vigorous intervention research, occurring in clinical and
community based settings, be funded to produce critical findings that
underpin evidenced based practice?
Can research funds be granted to discover and evaluate practical and
replicable solutions to reduce and eliminate racial and ethnic health care
disparities?
How will the education and training at health professions institutions help
to improve the access, and quality of health care services to communities
of color?
What are the strategies to recruit and retain nurses and other health
professionals to help reduce and eliminate health care
disparities?
Can a comprehensive health disparities bill like that introduced by
Representative Elijah Cummings D-MD and other Members of Congress change
our Nations health care infrastructure to eliminate racial and ethnic
health care disparities? Elements of such legislation seek to ensure
quality health care; expand access; strengthen accountability; implement
the IOM study recommendations; enhance the Office of Minority Health,
Office for Civil Rights and the National Center on Minority Health and
Health Disparities; support and empower communities in their efforts to
eliminate health disparities; improves workforce diversity; reduce diseases
and related complications from HIV/AIDS to asthma; and improve racial,
ethnic and primary language data collection, use and monitoring
What can be done to better communicate to communities of color about the
warning signs of diseases and consequences of diseases like strokes?
The NBNA mission is provide a forum for collective action by African
American nurses to investigate, define and determine what the health care
needs of African Americans are and to implement change to make available to
African Americans and other minorities health
care commensurate with that
of the larger society
National Black Nurses Association, 8630 Fenton Street, Suite 330, Silver
Spring, MD 20910
Visit NBNA at wwwnbnaorg; 2/2/06
