Progress Toward Elimination of Health Disparities

The following discussion highlights progress toward the elimination of health disparities. The disparities are illustrated in the Disparities Table (see Figure 7-2), which displays information about disparities among select populations for which data were available for assessment.

Best group rates for objectives based on race and ethnicity showed a mixed distribution. The white non-Hispanic population had the best rate for high school completion of persons aged 18 to 24 years (7-1) with an overall high school completion rate of 91 percent in 2001. The Hispanic population had the largest disparity, with only 66 percent of the population aged 18 to 24 years old achieving high school completion. The disparity between the black non-Hispanic population and white non-Hispanic population decreased between 1998 to 2001. The Asian or Pacific Islander population had the best rate of persons aged 65 years or older participating in community health promotion activities (7-12). The Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, and white non-Hispanic populations demonstrated disparities of 10 percent to 49 percent.

Compared with males, females had a better rate for high school completion (7-1). Gender differences for the remaining objectives were less than 10 percent or not statistically significant.

Disparities also existed between populations of varying education levels. Persons with at least some college had the best rates for participation in employer-sponsored health promotion activities (7-6) and older adult participation in community health promotion activities (7-12).

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