diseases ranging from cancer to high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. rates for African Americans with diabetes are 27% higher than Whites …
NEW INITIATIVE AIMS TO CURTAIL HEALTH DISPARITIES BY ADDRESSING ROOT CAUSES
OF HEALTH PROBLEMS
By Dr Gail Christopher
The Joint Center Health Policy Institute HPI has launched a new
Initiative, Place Matters: Addressing the Root Causes of Health
Disparities, a targeted benchmarking and accountability system that will
document progress and accelerate efforts to eliminate health disparities in
places where it is needed most
For too long, Native Americans, Hispanics and African Americans have died
needlessly because of poor nutrition, lack of health services and other
social conditions and habits that have contributed to minorities suffering
disproportionately from a number of diseases ranging from cancer to high
blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease
Our initiative will reduce health disparities by addressing the complex
underlying causes of health disparities and disseminating strategies to
help ameliorate these root causes Researchers have determined that
altering social determinants impacting individual wellbeing can modify
health patterns, illness and health disparities But any systematic and
researched-based translation of this knowledge into policy and practice
has
been limited, particularly at the local level
Until now
The Place Matters initiative changes that trend Simply put, we believe
that by addressing the underlying causes of health disparities, we can make
people healthier
Already, the initiative has reached out to partner with the National
Association of Counties, International City/County Management Association,
and National Association of County and City Health Officials Working with
state and local public officials, administrators and community leaders, we
use data from the 100 counties across the country with the highest
concentration of minorities to prompt new policies and programs aimed at
reducing disparities More importantly, we will benchmark our progress,
keeping records of what projects have the best results so we can repeat
their success in other communities
Clearly, our initiative has been launched at a time when America needs it
Our nation has just witnessed the type of human suffering, and race and
class divisions that Americans had long forgotten, or thought only existed
today on some other shores In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita, we saw what it is like to be poor and forgotten in
America
Thousands of Black men, women and children were herded into the New Orleans
Superdome, a chaotic shelter without enough food and water Elderly
patients were deserted and left to die in a nursing home The travesties
went on and on
These same people have been preyed up for years in less explicit ways
After the killer hurricanes, their pain and suffering was transparent But
for decades their families, neighbors and colleagues have been the victims
in the statistics that show:
African American men have the highest overall rate for cancer deaths
They are one and a half times more likely to get the disease - and
twice as likely to die from it as Whites
The rate of high blood pressure among African Americans in the United
States is the highest in the world Studies by the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention have found that 364 of Black men ages 20 and
older have high blood pressure, compared to 256 of White men
An estimated 23 million African Americans have diabetes, with Black
men twice as likely to have diabetes as Whites of the same age
Mortality rates for African Americans with diabetes are 27 higher
than Whites with the disease
The mortality rate for African American men ages 35 to 44 with
coronary heart disease is 826, compared to 388 for Whites of the
same age
Our goal is for the Place Matters initiative to turn the tide We want
this project to symbolize that the public and private sectors can work
together and save lives When we launched the initiative in September, Sen
John Kerry D-Ma attended the announcement and talked frankly about
Americas healthcare services for the poor The truth, he said, is
that, as a result of Katrina, many children went to shelters where they got
vaccinations for the first time Thousands of adults are seeing a doctor
for the first time in years Illnesses lingering long before Katrina will
be treated by a health care system that just weeks ago was indifferent We
have to act now to be sure it wont soon be indifferent again We must
demand something simple and humane: health care for every American — not
just when a disaster strikes, but every day of the year
Whats clear is that barriers, such as concentrated poverty, unemployment
and inadequate educational, housing and transportation resources contribute
to health
disparities for minorities and low-income residents across the
country These conditions must be addressed, if real progress on health
disparities is to be made
Place Matters is a new beginning It can demonstrate to the world that
America can overcome race and class divisions, and that the victims of
Katrina did not die in vain - they sparked a new commitment to saving lives
and building healthy communities
Dr Gail Christopher is Vice President for Health, Women and Families at
the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, and director of the
Joint Center Health Policy Institute
Source:theboldtcompany.com
