About the National Minority Health Month

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP ALLIANCE TO ELIMINATE HEALTH DISPARITIES

The National Minority Health Month Foundation is announcing the creation of the Congressional Leadership Alliance to Eliminate Health Disparities, a bipartisan initiative calling on the consistent, visionary leadership required to eliminate health disparities in racial and ethnic minority populations, prevent or delay the onset of disease or disability in older adults and to improve the health of all populations. The current state of health disparities in the United States are evident in the following sample:

Heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death for all racial and ethnic groups in the United States. In 2000, rates of death from diseases of the heart were 29 percent higher among African-American adults than among white adults, and death rates from stroke were 40 percent higher.
African American men are twice as likely as white men to die from prostate and colorectal cancers. While cancer survival rates for whites improved over the past decade, survival rates for African-Americans declined.
African Americans are twice as likely as whites to be diagnosed with diabetes. Latinos, American Indians and certain Asian-Pacific Islander groups all have rates that far exceed that of whites.
HIV prevalence in African American women is 24 times that of white women. African American men are 8 times as likely as their white counterparts to be diagnosed with HIV.

A disproportionate incidence of these diseases and conditions occurs in the elderly, and in racial and ethnic minority groups. These patients often reside in health disparity zones - contiguous ZIP codes characterized by a disproportionate prevalence of diseases and conditions that can be linked to higher death rates, greater hospitalization rates and cost. In Prevention Makes Common "Cents" (September 2003), the Department of Health and Human Services states that, "A small number of chronic disorders such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases account for the majority of deaths each year, and the medical care costs of people with chronic diseases account for more than 75 percent of the nation's medical care costs." More specifically:

Approximately 129 million U.S. adults are overweight or obese, which costs this Nation anywhere from $69 billion to $117 billion per year.
In 2000, an estimated 17 million people (6.2 percent of the population) had diabetes, costing the U.S. approximately $132 billion. People with diabetes lost more than 8 days per year from work, accounting for 14 million disability days.
Heart disease and stroke are the first and third leading causes of death in the United States. In 2003 alone, 1.1 million Americans will have a heart attack. Cardiovascular diseases cost the Nation more than $300 million each year.
Approximately 23 million adults and 9 million children have been diagnosed with asthma at some point within their lifetime, with costs near $14 billion per year.

These populations experience not only a disproportionate share of the morbidity and mortality associated with these conditions, but also a resulting disproportionate share of the social and economic costs that attend these diseases -- costs that have a collateral impact on all individuals, employers and insurers in the country. It is thus a staggering proposition that, by the year 2050, nearly 1 in 2 Americans will be members of a racial or ethnic minority; i.e., black, Hispanic, Asian, or American Indian (National Healthcare Disparities Report, DHHS, 2003).

The history of the public health system is one that brings knowledge and values together in the public arena to shape an approach to health problems. The Congressional Leadership Alliance will build upon this tradition by forging a partnership between elected officials, private industry forces and the physicians whose cultural origins resonate among communities with high percentages of health disparities.

The efforts of the Congressional Leadership Alliance aim to trigger change strategies that protect the rights of the individual, while remaining cognizant of the economic challenges associated with assuring medical justice. Most importantly, the formation of the Congressional Leadership Alliance reinforces the intrinsically American concept that the lives and potential of all Americans are of equal value. In short, the Congressional Leadership Alliance for the Elimination of Health Disparities creates a revitalizing combination that has every potential for sustainable, measurable success.

For additional information on the Congressional Leadership Alliance, please contact Gary A. Puckrein, PhD, Executive Director, National Minority Health Month Foundation.

Sources:

1. Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Center for Policy Analysis and Research, Structured Inefficiency: The Impact of Medicare Reform On African Americans, Policy Report No. 1, January 2004.

2. Gingrich, Newt, Saving Lives & Saving Money: Transforming Health and Healthcare, The Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, Washington, DC, 2003.

3. Institute of Medicine, The Future of Public Health, National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 1988.

4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, as reported on www.nia.nih.gov/AboutNIA/StrategicPlan/Overview.htm.

5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, as reported on www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov/statistics.

6. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Prevention Makes Common "Cents", September 2003