(July 7, 2006) Downtown, Los Angeles - Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard welcomes more than 250 community health advocates from throughout the country to the 34th Congressional District for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Regional Health Forum. Sponsored by the Coalition to Promote Minority Health, AltaMed and Community Health Councils, Inc., the theme of the forum was "Empowering Local Communities, Informing National Policymakers: A New Agenda to Address Health Disparities." Pictured seated from left to right: Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-14); Congresswoman Grace F. Napolitano (CA-38); Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34); and Mr. Daron Watts of the Coalition to Promote Minority Health, at the podium.
The full text of Congresswoman Roybal-Allard's remarks are as follows: "It is my pleasure to welcome you to my 34th congressional district and to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Regional Health Forum. I thank you for joining us to develop a more effective national agenda to address health disparities in our country. I also thank the following sponsors of today's Forum for helping to bring this impressive group of health care leaders together: The Coalition to Promote Minority Health, which also sponsored last year's Congressional Tri Caucus health summit in Chicago; AltaMed, who for 34 years has been a leader in providing quality health care to the underserved and culturally diverse families of our Los Angeles County communities; And Community Health Councils, Inc. which is effectively working to empower our Southern California communities to be actively involved in the development of healthcare policy.
The City of Los Angeles and the 34th Congressional District is a very appropriate place to have this important forum. It is a diverse minority district with a populace that includes Latinos, African Americans, Asians and Native Americans. Demographics such as these are of particular importance to today's forum. As we know there is compelling scientific evidence that race and ethnicity correlate with persistent, and often increasing, health disparities that include increased rates of Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, and new HIV / AIDS infections. Furthermore, minorities who have less access to cancer prevention and detection services, are less likely to receive mental health services, or the recommended adult immunizations.
The tragic consequences of these health disparities is that in minority communities children are growing up with almost twice the risk of developing diabetes; young women are significantly at higher risk for cervical cancer and less likely to receive regular pap smear screening; and the aging minority population is at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Over the next decade, it is anticipated that minority groups will be a substantially larger proportion of our U.S. population and will significantly influence the future health of our entire country. This fact magnifies the urgency of addressing the existing health disparities among our various minority groups.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has taken this challenge very seriously. We have a number of members here today who have actively worked to address critical minority health issues in our country. Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (CA-38), the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, has worked hard to highlight mental health issues in the Hispanic community, especially the high suicide rate among Latinas. Linda Sánchez (CA-39) is leading the effort to address disparities in the detection and treatment of Alzheimer's disease in Hispanic communities. Hilda Solis (CA-32), the Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus task force on Health, is a leader in emphasizing the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic among Latinas. And my own efforts have been directed towards issues of public health, such as decreasing the incidence of underage drinking among Hispanic youth; and improving the consumption of folic acid supplements to prevent the high and preventable incidence of neural tube defects among Latinas.
Your hands-on day to day experience at the community and state level is critical to the development of meaningful and effective national health policies. Thank you again for being here. My colleagues and I will be taking your comments and experiences back to Washington and we look forward to continuing to work with you to develop critical and meaningful policies to help insure the future good health of our communities and our nation."