Racial
and Ethnic Disparities in Health
Knowledge Path
December 2008
Introduction
This
knowledge path has been compiled by the Maternal
and Child Health Library at
Georgetown University. It offers a
selection of current, high-quality resources
about preventing, identifying, and
eliminating racial and ethnic disparities
in health. Separate sections
present resources for professionals (health
professionals, program administrators,
policymakers, researchers) and consumers.
A special
topics area lists resources about cultural
and linguistic competence to remove barriers
to care and narrow health disparities.
The knowledge path will be updated periodically.
Resources for
Professionals
Overview
See the Commonwealth
Fund
publication, Racial
and ethnic disparities in U.S. health
care: A chartbook (2008). This
chartbook, which is intended for policymakers,
teachers, researchers, and health professionals,
aims to help users understand disparities
in their communities and formulate
solutions. Topics include demographics,
disparities in health status and mortality,
disparities in access to health care,
disparities in coverage, disparities
in quality, and strategies for closing
the gap. A Webinar accompanied
the chartbook's release.
Web Sites:
A-Z
- Advocates
For Youth: Youth of Color.
Presents information about the
disproportionate rates of HIV,
sexually transmitted infections,
and
pregnancy among adolescents from
racial and ethnic minority groups
and resources to
plan and implement culturally appropriate
interventions to meet their needs.
Also see MySistahs.
Advocates for Youth aims to help
adolescents and young adults make
informed and responsible decisions
about their reproductive and sexual
health.
- Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ): Minority Health.
Describes AHRQ's efforts to identify
and understand how inequities
in health care contribute to
racial and ethnic disparities
in health and how disparities
can be eliminated. Includes links
to
AHRQ-funded centers, research
programs, and support networks
that focus
on racial and ethnic disparities
in health. Also links to conference
and
meeting
information, workshop summaries,
evidence reports, speeches and
testimony, and research findings.
Presents data from the Healthcare
Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS),
and National
Quality Measures Clearinghouse
(NQMC).
Resources include
National healthcare disparities
report.
(2003-). This annual report
provides an overview of disparities
in quality of and access to
health care among racial, ethnic,
and
socioeconomic
groups in the United States
and tracks the nation's
progress
toward reducing disparities.
A chapter focuses on health
care disparities within specific
priority populations that include
women, children and adolescents,
and individuals with special
health care needs. The NHDRnet
Online Query System is
an interactive tool for exploring
data from the reports. State
snapshots provide state-specific
information from the 2007
report.
Also see AHRQ's resource, Health
Literacy and Cultural Competency.
- American
Medical Association (AMA): Eliminating
Health Disparities.
Offers program information, online
courses, and other resources for
health professionals aimed
at the
elimination of racial and ethnic
disparities in health.
- American
Public Health Association (APHA):
Eliminating Health Disparities.
Contains policy statements, fact
sheets, and journal articles about
disparities in health along with
information about legislative activities
and conferences. APHA also maintains
a database about
programs and initiatives around
the country that are working to
address disparities in health.
- Census
Bureau: Minority Links.
Links to reports and news releases
containing data on racial and
ethnic populations
in
the United
States.
Includes social and economic characteristics
for Black or African American,
Hispanic or Latino, Asian, Native
Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander,
and American Indian and Alaska
Native populations. Health topics
include disability, fertility,
and health insurance. Also see
the Bureau's resource about the U.S.
foreign-born population,
which presents
profiles containing detailed demographic,
social,
economic, and housing information
about the total, native, and foreign-born
populations of the United States.
- Center
for Health Care Strategies (CHCS):
Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Describes
promising approaches and presents
tools that states
and health plans can use to address
disparities as well as improve
quality of care. Includes
strategies to more effectively
collect and use primary race and
ethnicity data to close gaps in
health care quality. CHCS provides
training and technical assistance
to improve
the quality of publicly financed
health care in the United States.
Resources include
From
policy to action: Addressing racial
and ethnic disparities at the ground
level. (2007). [Issue brief].
Reducing racial and ethnic disparities: Quality improvement in Medicaid managed
care toolkit. (2007). Supplementary resources accompany the toolkit.
Using data on race and ethnicity to improve health care quality for Medicaid beneficiaries. (2006). [Toolkit].
- Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC).
Offers programs and initiatives
about racial and ethnic disparities
in health that include
Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report
(MMWR).
This series of publications
contains articles and data about
infectious and chronic diseases,
environmental hazards, natural
or human-generated disasters,
occupational diseases and injuries,
intentional and unintentional
injuries, and other topics of
interest to the public health
community. Search for
articles about racial and ethnic
disparities in health or about
specific population groups.
National
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Contains vital and health statistics
about racial and ethnic groups. Resources include
Office
of Minority Health and Health Disparities
(OMHD).
Contains program and conference
information, reports, and other
resources about efforts to eliminate
health disparities for vulnerable
populations as defined
by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic
status, geography, gender, age,
disability status, and risk status
related to sex and gender, as well
as for other populations identified
as being at risk
for health disparities.
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP): Office of Health Disparities (OHD).
Provides information about initiatives to address disparities
in HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis
cases for racial and ethnic minority groups.
Racial
and Ethnic Approaches to Community
Health (REACH 2010).
Includes program information
about community-based programs
and culturally appropriate interventions
to eliminate racial and ethnic health
disparities
in six priority
areas: asthma,
breast and cervical cancer,
cardiovascular disease, diabetes
mellitus,
hepatitis B, and infant mortality.
Recent publications include
- Commonwealth
Fund: Health Care Disparities.
Describes its program that
aims to improve the quality of
health care delivered to low-income
and minority Americans and to
eliminate racial and ethnic health
disparities
by focusing on hospitals and ambulatory
care providers serving large numbers
of low-income and minority patients.
The Commonwealth Fund is a private
foundation supporting
independent research on health
care issues to promote a high-performing
health care system for all Americans.
Recent publications
include
Identifying and evaluating equity provisions in state health care reform. (2008). [Report].
Also see Racial
and ethnic disparities in
U.S. health care: A chartbook
(2008) and the Commonwealth Fund's reports about
cultural competence.
- Community
Voices: Health Care for the Underserved.
Contains program descriptions,
articles, and policy briefs about
community efforts to improve access
to and the quality of health care
for underserved populations in
the
United States. Community Voices
is an initiative of the W. K. Kellogg
Foundation.
- Factline:
Tracking Health in Underserved
Communities.
Presents information about health
disparities faced by women, members
of minority groups, the elderly,
and others. Includes bibliographic
references to the literature in
which each finding is established.
The framework for the research
is Healthy
People 2010.
Factline is a project of the Journal
of HealthCare for the Poor and
Underserved, and it is sponsored
by the National
Library of Medicine (NLM) and Meharry
Medical College. Factline is also available in Spanish.
- Families
USA: Minority Health.
Presents definitions, fact sheets,
issue briefs, health policy reports,
and an electronic
newsletter about
minority health and racial and
ethnic health disparities with
a focus on disparities in health
insurance and access to care. Families
USA advocates at the national,
state, and local levels for high-quality,
affordable health care for all
Americans. Resources include
Health coverage in communities of color: Talking about the new census numbers. (2008). [Fact sheet].
Making
public programs work for
communities of color: An action kit for
community leaders. (2006).
SCHIP and children's
health coverage: Leveling the playing
field for minority
children, rev. ed. (2007). [Issue brief].
- Health
Disparities Collaboratives (HDC).
Describes
the goals, methods and models,
partnerships,
and accomplishments
of collaboratives for health
centers across the country to reduce
disparities in health outcomes
for underserved and vulnerable
populations. Includes a library
of resources to support the work
of the collaboratives and share
best practices with the health
community. The collaboratives are
sponsored by the Health Resources
and Services Administration (HRSA).
- Healthy
People 2010.
Describes this national health
promotion and disease prevention
initiative created by a broad coalition
of experts from many sectors to
improve the health of all Americans.
Healthy People is designed to achieve
two overarching goals,
one of which is to eliminate health
disparities among different segments
of the population. It contains
467 objectives in 28 focus areas.
Healthy People 2010 provides background
information on the initiative;
the complete text (online and searchable), Healthy
People 2010: Understanding and
improving health (2nd ed.) (2000)
and Healthy
People 2010: Midcourse review (2006); data;
a list of the Healthy People partners
and related sites; and other Healthy
People publications.
It is coordinated by the Office
of Disease Prevention and Health
Promotion (ODPHP).
- Kaiser
Family Foundation (KFF): Minority
Health.
Contains policy research and analysis,
program information, state-level
data, Webcasts,
an electronic
newsletter,
and
other resources about minority
health
and efforts to reduce racial
and ethnic disparities in health
care access and quality. Offers
the Race,
Ethnicity, and Health Care Reference
Library,
an online health policy resource
for faculty and students. KFF is an independent philanthropy focusing on national health care issues. Resources include
Addressing disparities in health and health care: Issues for reform. (2008). [Testimony].
Black Americans and HIV/AIDS,
rev. ed.
(2008). [Fact sheet].
Health
coverage and access to care
among Asian Americans, Native
Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
(2008). [Fact sheet].
Key
facts: Race, ethnicity and medical
care. (2007). [Chartbook].
Key health and health care indicators by race/ethnicity and state. (2007). [Fact sheet].
Latinos and HIV/AIDS, rev.
ed.
(2008). [Fact sheet]. Also available in Spanish.
Today's
Topics in Health Disparities.
Presents a series of live, interactive Webcasts devoted to
addressing a range of issues relating to health and health care disparities
in the
United States.
Each discussion will feature a panel of experts tackling current issues
in health disparities and answering questions from Webcast viewers. Archived
Webcasts and background materials
are available.
- Medical
Education Futures Study (MEFS): Examining Medical Education's
Role in Reducing Disparities, Increasing
Access and Improving Health in an Era
of Health Care Reform.
Presents policy briefs, research,
reports, legislation, news summaries, and a newsletter about the need
to create
a more ethnically and racially diverse
physician work force, to train
physicians for primary care, and to
ensure a more equitable geographic
distribution of physicians during the
current period of medical school
expansion. MEFS is an initiative of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Recent publications include
Underrepresented
minorities in medicine: The need
for a diverse physician workforce.
(2008). [Issue brief].
-
Minority Health Project to Eliminate
Health Disparities (MHP).
Contains Webcasts,
conference materials,
reports, news, and other resources
concerning minority health and
disparities in health. MHP is part
of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
Program for Ethnicity, Culture, and Health
Outcomes (ECHO).
- National
Alliance for Hispanic Health.
Provides legislative and program
information and publications about
health issues important to the
Hispanic community.
Offers
toll-free
health helplines to help individuals
and families find culturally and
linguistically proficient health
information and referrals to local
services. The
alliance is a network of health and human
service providers for over 15 million
Hispanic consumers throughout the United States.
- National
Center on Minority Health and Health
Disparities (NCMHD).
Includes grant and program information,
press releases, conference information,
congressional testimony, and the National
Institutes of Health strategic
plan and budget to address disparities
in health. NCMHD is part of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- National
Council of La Raza (NCLR): Institute
for Hispanic Health.
Offers legislative news, reports,
and background materials about
eliminating or reducing barriers
that prevent Latino families from
accessing health care and receiving
high-quality care. NCLR is the
largest Latino civil rights and
advocacy organization in the United
States. A recent
publication is
Restoring equity in the health care system: Addressing barriers that Latino families face.
(2008). [Testimony].
- National
Health Law Program (NHeLP): Health
Disparities.
Presents a collection of resources about health
disparities and health care as a human right. Also see NHeLP's resource collection about language
access in health care. NHeLP is a national public-interest
law firm that aims to improve health care for families with low incomes,
minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Recent publications include
Unequal
health outcomes in the United States: The responsibility of the
state. (2008). [Report].
- National
Medical Association: W. Montague
Cobb/NMA Health Institute.
Describes its work to develop,
evaluate, and implement strategies
to promote
wellness
and eliminate health disparities
for African Americans and other
underserved populations. Resources
address HIV/AIDS,
asthma,
diabetes, cancer, hypertension and heart disease, and obesity.
- Office
of Minority Health (OMH).
Links to program and conference
information, data,
profiles
of minority population groups,
and publications about public health
issues affecting African Americans,
American
Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian
Americans, Hispanic Americans,
and
Native Hawaiians and other Pacific
Islanders. Issues include racial
and ethnic disparities in health
and cultural competence.
Some resources are available in
Spanish. OMH is
part of the Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Recent resources and
initiatives include
A Healthy Baby Begins with
You.
Presents information
about this national print
and radio campaign
to
raise awareness about
infant mortality
with an emphasis on the African-American
community. Includes campaign
materials and
infant mortality disparities fact
sheets. Also presents
information about
another phase of the
campaign,
the Preconception
Peer Educators (PPE)
Program, which
is designed to educate
the college-age population
about preconception
health and care and
to train them to serve
as
ambassadors
for their
peers who are not
attending college.
National
Partnership for Action
to End Health Disparities
for Ethnic and Racial
Minority Populations
(NPA).
Presents program and
meeting information
about this partnership
among organizations from all sectors that focuses on improving
health status
and health outcomes
among racial and
ethnic minority populations.
Includes background information about health disparities,
links to state health disparities plans, and information
about promising practices to eliminate health disparities.
Strategic framework for improving racial and ethnic minority health and eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities. (2008).
- Pew
Hispanic Center.
Presents reports, fact sheets,
surveys, and data sets that aim
to illuminate Latino views on
social matters and public policy
issues,
improve understanding of the
U.S. Hispanic population, and
chronicle
Latinos' growing impact on the
entire nation. Topics include
demography, economics, education,
identity,
immigration, labor, politics,
and remittances. The center is
supported
by the Pew Charitable Trusts,
a private philanthropy serving
the public interest. Recent publications
include
Hispanics and health care in the
United States: Access, information,
and knowledge. (2008). [Report].
- Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF):
Quality/Equality. Offers
research and program information,
reports, toolkits, and news summaries
from RWJF and its grantees about
reducing racial
and ethnic health care disparities.
RWJF seeks to improve the health
and health care of all Americans
via its grantmaking efforts. Recent
resources include
Closing the disparities gap in healthcare quality with performance measurement and public reporting.
(2008). [Issue brief].
Legality
of collecting and disclosing
patient race and ethnicity
data.
(2006). [Policy brief].
National
Health Plan Collaborative toolkit.
(2008).
Race,
ethnicity, and language of patients:
Hospital practices regarding collection
of information to address disparities
in health care. (2006). [Report].
Racial
and ethnic disparities in access
to and quality of health care. (2007). [Report].
- THRIVE:
The Tool For Health and Resilience
in Vulnerable
Environments. Offers
a tool to help communities
identify
and foster factors in the community
environment that will improve health
outcomes and reduce disparities experienced
by racial and ethnic minorities. THRIVE
is presented by the Prevention
Institute.
Additional
Electronic Publications
-
American Lung Association.
2007. State
of lung disease in diverse
communities.
New York, NY: American Lung
Association. This report
provides statistics,
background material, and
useful information about
important lung
health issues
such as asthma, smoking,
and air quality as they relate
to racially
and ethnically diverse communities.
- Association of
Maternal and Child
Health
Programs (AMCHP). 2008. AMCHP
partners with CityMatCH and NHSA to eliminate
disparities in infant mortality.
Washington DC: Association of Maternal
and Child
Health
Programs (AMCHP). This article announces
a project that will focus on addressing
racial
inequities in infant mortality through
coordinated
systems building in communities that
have a disproportionate burden of
infant mortality. The Partnership to
Eliminate Disparities in Infant Mortality
is a collaborative effort between CityMatCH,
the Association of Maternal
and Child
Health
Programs (AMCHP), and the National Healthy
Start Association (NHSA), with funding
from
the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
- Children's
Defense Fund. 2006. Improving
children's health: Understanding children's
health disparities and promising approaches
to address them. Washington, DC:
Children's Defense Fund.
This report documents disparities
in outcomes across several major conditions
affecting children,
provides an analysis of indicators related
to children's health, and
explores community strategies that have
been effective in reducing
disparities in many health-related conditions.
The report also recommends policies
and initiatives to eliminate health
disparities for children, focusing
on the role that prevention
and expanded access to health care for
all children can play in
improving health outcomes.
- Children's
Defense Fund. 2008.
Disparities
in children's health and health coverage.
Washington, DC:
Children's Defense Fund. This fact
sheet describes disparities in health
and health insurance coverage
for infants, children, and adolescents
in minority groups from before birth
into adulthood, compared to their
white counterparts.
- Cohen JA. 2008. Challenges
and successes in reducing health
disparities: Workshop
summary. Washington, DC : National
Academies Press. This report summarizes
a workshop convened by the Institute
of Medicine to increase the
visibility of racial and ethnic health
disparities as a national problem.
Workshop discussions focused on
the importance of differences in
life
expectancy
within the United States, the reasons
for those differences, and the
implications of this information for
programs and policymakers.
- Commission on the Social
Determinants of Health. 2008. Closing
the gap in a generation: Health equity
through action on the social determinants
of health. Geneva, Switzerland: World
Health Organization (WHO).
This report describes the results of
a 3-year study that examined evidence
on the social determinants of health
and what can be
done to promote health equity globally.
The executive
summary
and background material are available
in several languages.
- Fox HB, McManus MA, Zarit M, Fairbrother
G, Cassedy AE, Bethell
CD, Read D. 2007. Racial
and ethnic disparities in adolescent
health and access to care.
Washington, DC: Incenter
Strategies.
This fact sheet describes disparities
in health status and access to
care among Hispanic, black,
and white adolescents ages 12-17.
The fact sheet addresses racial
and ethnic
disparities for a broad set
of indicators and also examines the impact
of income, insurance, and
mother's education on these
indicators. A second fact
sheet presents
information about older adolescents
ages 18-21.
- Fullilove RE. 2006. African
Americans, health disparities and
HIVAIDS: Recommendations for confronting
the epidemic in Black America.
Washington, DC: National
Minority AIDS Council. This report
examines the underlying causes of
excess HIV-related morbidity and
mortality
among African
Americans and makes policy recommendations to alleviate the root causes of the
health disparities that devastate
the African-American community.
- Hasnain-Wynia R, Pierce D, Haque
A, Hedges Greising C, Prince V, Reiter
J. 2007. HRET disparities
toolkit. Chicago, IL: Health
Research and Educational Trust (HRET),
American Hospital Association
(AHA).
This toolkit provides hospitals, health
systems, clinics, and health plans
information and resources for systematically
collecting race, ethnicity, and primary-language
data from patients.
- Healthy States Initiative. 2007.
Addressing adolescent health disparities through
school. Lexington, KY: Council of State
Governments.
This policy brief for state legislators identifies ways to assist local schools and
school districts
in addressing racial and ethnic health disparities
among adolescents.
- Hernandez DJ, Macartney
SE. 2008. Racial-ethnic
inequality in child well-being from
1985-2004: Gaps narrowing, but persist.
New York, NY:
Foundation
for Child Development (FCD). This
report analyzes how
child and adolescent well-being has
changed among black, Hispanic, and
white children
from 1985 to 2004.
- Hughes D, Kreger
M, Kushner K, Pirani H, Surie D. 2007.
Reducing
health disparities among children:
Strategies and programs for health
plans. Washington, DC: National
Institute for Health Care Management
Research and Educational Foundation.
This issue paper reviews what is known
about health disparities among children
and describes
health plans' innovative approaches to
reduce disparities and ensure cultural
competence.
- Indian Health
Service. 2006. Facts
on Indian health disparities. Rockville,
MD: Indian Health Service. This fact
sheet
presents health statistics about the
American Indian and Alaska Native population
compared
to the entire population in the United
States.
- Johnson K, Theberge
S. 2007. Reducing disparities beginning
in early childhood. New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). This issue brief
highlights patterns of disparities
in early childhood health risks, access
to services, and outcomes and provides
recommendations for reducing
disparities in early childhood.
- Leigh WA, Huff D. 2006. Women
of color health data book: Adolescents
to seniors, 3rd ed. Bethesda,
MD: Office
of Research on Women's Health (ORWH). This
book about minority
women's health presents data
about life expectancy, major causes of
death, behavior
and lifestyles, risk factors, prenatal
health care services, access to health
insurance and services, and morbidity
and mortality. The book concludes with
recommendations to improve the health
of minority women.
- Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
1989-. Child
health USA 1989-.
Rockville, MD: Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). This
annual book presents data
about the health status and health
services utilization of infants,
children, adolescents, children
with special
health care needs, and women
of childbearing age and gives
insight into the nation's
progress toward
ensuring quality of care, eliminating
barriers and health disparities,
and improving the health infrastructure
and systems of care for this
population.
- Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
2002-. Women's
health USA 2000-.
Rockville, MD: Maternal and Child
Health Bureau (MCHB). This annual
data book includes information
and data on
population characteristics, health
status, and health services utilization
for women in the United States
and highlights racial and ethnic
disparities
and gender differences in women's
health.
- Meng YY, Babey SH, Hastert TA,
Brown ER. 2007.
California's racial and ethnic minorities
more adversely affected by asthma. Los Angeles, CA:
UCLA
Center for Health Policy Research. This policy brief examines the racial and ethnic disparities in the burden of asthma among those with active asthma. The brief also examines disparities in access to care and exposure to indoor environmental triggers that may contribute to the asthma burden experienced by racial and ethnic minorities.
- Moiduddin E, Massey DS. 2006.
Segregation, the concentration of poverty,
and birth
weight. Princeton, NJ: Center
for Research on Child Wellbeing. This paper examines the relationship between neighborhood conditions experienced by pregnant women of various racial and ethnic groups and the weights of the infants they ultimately deliver, controlling for individual and family characteristics.
- National Commission
on Prevention Priorities. 2007. Preventive
care: A national profile on use, disparities,
and health benefits. Washington,
DC:
Partnership
for Prevention.
This report examines utilization of clinical preventive services for the nation
as a whole and for racial and ethnic
populations and estimates the number
of lives that would be saved if utilization
improved.
- National
Institutes of Health (NIH).
2008. NIH
launches center to study genomics
and health
disparities. Bethesda, MD: National
Institutes of Health (NIH). This press
release announces the establishment
of the NIH Intramural Center
for Genomics and Health Disparities (NICGHD), a new venue for research about the way populations are impacted by diseases, including obesity, diabetes,
and hypertension.
- Perot RT, Davis RJ.
2007. From
awareness to action: Stakeholders’ strategies
to eliminate racial and ethnic
health disparities.
Washington, DC: Summit
Health Institute for Research
and Educations, Inc. This report
describes the results of a survey of
20 organizational
representatives
to
determine
what key stakeholders are doing
to address racial and ethnic health disparities,
the extent to which interest in and concern
about these health gaps have been
translated into action, the lessons
to be learned from their involvement
and activities, and ways to enhance awareness
of racial and ethnic disparities so that
an increased commitment to action
among a broader range of stakeholders
might result.
- Saha S, Shipman SA. 2006.
Rationale for diversity in the health
professions: A review of the evidence. Rockville, MD: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). This report examines the evidence addressing the contention that health professions diversity will lead to improved population health outcomes.
- Smedley
BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR, eds. 2003. Unequal
treatment: Confronting racial and
ethnic disparities in health care.
Washington, DC: National
Academies Press.
This landmark book examines how
racial and ethnic disparities in
treatment
may arise
in health care systems and looks
at aspects of the clinical encounter
that
may contribute to such disparities.
The book offers recommendations
for improvements in medical care
financing, allocation of care,
availability of
language translation, community-based
care, and other arenas.
- Urban
Indian Health Commission. 2007. Invisible
tribes: Urban Indians and their health
in
a changing world. Washington,
DC: Urban Indian Health Commission.
This report examines the health
care issues facing urban American
Indians
and Alaska Natives and the specific
health topics of diabetes, depression,
and cardiovascular disease. The
report recommends actions to
address the urban Indian health
crisis.
Databases
The databases listed below
are excellent tools for
identifying data,
additional literature
and research,
and programs addressing
racial and ethnic disparities in health.
Many of the entries below contain tips
on how to use the databases efficiently.
Please note that databases vary in how
terms should be entered; for example,
some require quotation marks and others
don't. Enter search phrases as shown
in bold below.
- Data
- ChildStats.gov.
Presents statistics and reports about
children and families, including population
and family characteristics, economic
security, health, behavior and social
environment, and education. Statistics
are available by racial and ethnic
group. ChildStats.gov
is a
service
of
the
Federal Interagency
Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
- Child
Trends DataBank.
Reports on national trends and
research on over 100 key indicators
of child and adolescent well-being,
including the racial
and ethnic composition of the
child population.
Health indicators include a section
presenting differences by race
and ethnicity. Child Trends is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan research
organization providing research
and data to inform decision-making
that affects children and adolescents.
- Data2010:
The Healthy People 2010 Database.
Contains the most recent monitoring
data for tracking Healthy
People 2010.
Data can be searched by a specific
population group for
each focus area. This data set
is provided by the National
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) via CDC
Wonder.
- Data
Resource Center for Child and Adolescent
Health (DRC). Provides
access to and use of data from the National
Survey of Children's Health, 2003, and
the National Survey of Children with
Special Health Care Needs, 2001 & 2005/2006.
Users can search and compare results
on over
100 indicators of child health and well-being;
view state and regional profiles on key
measures; explore survey content relevant
to Healthy
People 2010 objectives; and
compare findings at all levels for children
by age, race and ethnicity, income, or
health status. DRC is a project of the Child
and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative
(CAHMI).
- diversitydata.org.
Identifies metropolitan area indicators
of diversity, opportunity, quality
of life, and health for various racial and ethnic population
groups. Data are presented in profiles
by metropolitan area or by indicator
in ranked lists or maps. diversitydata.org is an initiative
of the Harvard School of Public Health
in conjunction with the Center for
the Advancement of Health.
- Healthcare
Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP): HCUPnet.
Provides access to health statistics and information
on hospital inpatient and emergency department
utilization at the national and
state levels that researchers and
policymakers can use
to identify, track,
and analyze trends in health
care utilization, access, charges,
quality, and outcomes. The data are
used to describe patterns of care for uncommon
as well as common diseases,
to analyze hospital procedures,
including those that are
performed infrequently,
and to study the care of
population groups such
as racial and ethnic groups,
children, women, and the uninsured.
HCUP is an
initiative of the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
HCUP statistical
briefs include
Racial
and ethnic disparities in hospital patient safety events, 2005. (2008).
Racial
and ethnic disparities in potentially preventable
hospitalizations, 2003.
(2006).
- Health
Data for All Ages. Presents
interactive online data tables that provide
health statistics for infants,
children, adolescents,
adults, and older adults. Customize
tables with any or all of the following
characteristics:
age, gender, race and ethnicity,
and geographic location.This data
warehouse
is a service of the National
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
- KIDS
COUNT Data Center.
Contains
state- and city-level data for over
100 measures of child well-being,
including several indicators
that are broken down by race and
ethnicity.
Generate custom reports
for a geographic area or
to compare areas on a topic. KIDS COUNT is a project of the Annie
E. Casey Foundation (AECF).
- Linked
Birth/Infant Death Data Set.
Contains data about infant births/deaths
for infants under age 1 occurring
within the United States to U.S.
residents. Counts can be obtained
by state, county, infant's age,
weight, cause of death, maternal
race, maternal age, maternal education,
gestation period, prenatal care,
live birth order, and marital status.
This data set is provided by the National
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) via CDC
Wonder.
- Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).
Contains data on the cost and use
of
health care and
health insurance coverage in the United
States. The race and
ethnicity of individuals in the MEPS are
reported to support analyses of minority
groups. MEPS is sponsored by
the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ). Recent statistical reports
include
Racial
and ethnic differences in health insurance
coverage and usual
source of health care, 2002. (2006).
- National
Quality Measures Clearinghouse
(NQMC).
Contains evidence-based health care quality
measures and measure sets for physicians,
hospitals, and health plans to evaluate
and improve the quality of health care
for patients. Type race OR racial
OR "ethnic*" in the search box to
identify measures on the topic. The database
is sponsored by the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
- PeriStats.
Provides access to maternal- and infant-health-related
data at the national, state, county,
and city levels.
Several indicators are broken down
by race and ethnicity. Over 60,000
graphs, maps, and tables are available,
and data are referenced to the relevant
source and Healthy
People 2010 objective.
PeriStats is a service of the March
of Dimes Perinatal Data Center.
- Quick
Health Data Online.
Offers comparative, county-level
data on the health status of women
for all 50 states, the District
of Columbia, and U.S. territories
and possessions. Data are available
by gender, race, and ethnicity
in categories that include mortality,
natality, reproductive health,
violence, prevention, disease,
and mental health. NWHID is a service
of the Office
on Women's Health (OWH).
Statistical reports include
Health
disparities profiles. (2008).
- statehealthfacts.org:
Minority Health.
Includes information about minority
health professionals and medical
school enrollees and graduates,
in addition to data by race and
ethnicity for population demographics,
insurance
coverage, health status, and other
topics. Information is displayed
as tables, graphs, or color-coded
maps. This database is a service
of the Kaiser
Family Foundation.
- Title
V Information System (Title V IS).
Contains data from annual Title
V block grant applications and
reports submitted by all 59 U.S.
states and jurisdictions. To learn
about states' efforts to address
racial and ethnic disparities in
maternal and child health (MCH),
conduct several searches. Under
Program Data, find the number
of deliveries and infants served
by Title V and deliveries and infants
eligible for Title XIX, by race
and Hispanic ethnicity. Also view
Measurement and Indicator Data.
Scroll to the State Data section
and conduct searches for particular
racial and ethnic groups under
the State Priority Needs Keyword
Search, State Performance Measures,
and State Outcome Measures sections.
Title V IS is a service of the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
Also see MCHB's Discretionary
Grant Information System (DGIS).
- Also see AHRQ's NHDRnet
Online Query System, the
Census Bureau, Morbidity & Mortality
Weekly Reports (MMWR), the National
Center for Health Statistics (NCHS),
the Office of Minority
Health, the Pew
Hispanic Center, the Women
of color health data book (2006),
Child health USA (1989-), and Women's
health USA
(200-).
- Literature
and Research Databases
- ClinicalTrials.gov.
Provides access to information about
clinical research studies for a wide
range of conditions.
Included are a summary of the purpose
of the study, recruiting status, criteria
for patient participation, location
of the trial, and contact information.
To identify studies that address racial
and ethnic health disparities, click
on Search for Clinical Trials. Enter
the search phrase (ethnic groups
OR minority
groups)
AND "health
disparities" and click
on Search to get your results. ClinicalTrials.gov
is
a service of the National
Institutes of Health (NIH) and is developed by
the National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
- Computer
Retrieval of Information on
Scientific Projects
(CRISP).
Contains information about
federally funded biomedical
research projects conducted at
universities, hospitals, and
other research institutions.
Search CRISP to identify
scientific concepts, emerging
trends and techniques, or
specific projects and
investigators. Type
racial ethnic disparity in
the search term box of the
Query
Form
and click on And. Click on
Submit Query to get your
results. Narrow your search by
selecting a grant activity,
fiscal year, or state, or use
the CRISP
Thesaurus
to identify additional search
terms. The database is
maintained by the Office of
Extramural Research at the
National
Institutes of Health
(NIH).
- Maternal
and Child Health Library at
the National
Center for Education in Maternal
and Child Health (NCEMCH),
Georgetown University. Maintains
several databases to collect, manage,
and disseminate knowledge about
MCH, with special emphasis on knowledge
gained from initiatives and programs
supported by the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
The library's bibliographic database
is
MCHLine®.
Comprises an online catalog
of materials in the Maternal
and
Child Health Library. See
the bibliographies
Racial and ethnic disparities
in health and Culturally
competent services for a
selection of recent
library items on these topics.
The Maternal
and Child Health Library
also offers a non-English
materials and resources
list that
identifies items written
in many non-English languages,
from Albanian
to Yoruba. Also see the resource
brief, Culturally
competent services;
the knowledge path, Spanish-language
health resources (Also
available in Spanish);
and the library's
organizations and programs databases.
- Minority
Health Archive. Comprises
an online archive of print and electronic
media related to the health of
minority racial and ethnic groups in
the United States.
Materials include journal articles,
Web-based
materials, government documents, books,
book chapters, conference proceedings,
conference papers, course outlines,
events/presentations, images, pre-prints,
and theses/dissertations. Search by
subject or publication year. The archive
was created by the
Center
for Minority Health and the
University Library System at the University
of Pittsburgh.
- PubMed.
Contains over 17 million citations
for biomedical articles that date
back to the 1950s. These citations are from
MEDLINE and additional life science
journals. PubMed includes links to
many sites providing full-text articles
and other related resources. To identify
many articles on the topic, enter
the phrase (ethnic groups OR minority
groups OR minority health) AND (healthcare
disparities OR health status disparities) in the search box. Then,
click on Limits and make the following
selections on the page: select a
date (e.g. Published in the last
2 years);
click on Humans; click on Languages:
English; and select Tag Terms: MeSH
Major Topic. Selecting Type of Article
and/or adding additional search terms
(e.g., (ethnic groups OR minority
groups OR minority health) AND (healthcare
disparities OR health status disparities)
AND asthma or (ethnic
groups OR minority groups OR minority
health)
AND (healthcare disparities OR health
status disparities) AND prejudice) will
further limit the search. Use MeSH to
identify additional search terms.
PubMed is a service of the National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
- Also
see the National Center for Cultural Competence
(NCCC) Resource Database.
- Programs
Databases
- Discretionary
Grant Information
System (DGIS). Contains
financial, national performance
measure, and abstract information
collected annually from more than
900 grants
issued by the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB).
To find information on
grants about racial and ethnic
disparities in health, select Abstracts.
Enter racial disparities in
the search box and click on All the words.
Select Search
to get your results. Conduct another
search on the words, ethnic
disparities; click
on All the words; and click on
Search to get your
results. There will be some overlap between the search
results. Also browse
Performance
Measures and select those measures
that address racial and ethnic
health
disparities.
- Health Disparities Community Solutions Database.
Contains information about public
health programs and initiatives
around the country that are working
to address the problem of disparities
in health. Some of the programs
are still in existence, while others
have been discontinued. The database
is sponsored by the American
Public Health Association (APHA).
- Health
Services Research Projects in Progress
(HSRProj).
Provides information about
ongoing health services
research and public health
projects. To identify projects
on the topic, enter the search
phrase (ethnic
groups OR minority groups OR minority
health) AND (healthcare disparities OR
health status disparities).
Click on Search to get your results.
HSRProj is funded by the National
Library of Medicine
(NLM).
- Maternal
and Child Health Library at
the National
Center for Education in Maternal
and Child Health (NCEMCH),
Georgetown University. Maintains
two databases to identify organizations
and programs that focus on racial
and ethnic disparities in health:
MCH
Organizations Database.
Lists over 2,000 government,
professional, and voluntary
organizations involved in MCH
activities, primarily at a national
level. See the list,
Culturally competent services,
for organizations that provide
information on cultural competence,
culturally competent services,
and minority health. Lists are
also available for sources of
foreign-language materials and
Spanish-language materials.
For organizations that provide
health information for specific
minority groups, search the
database by typing the name
of the group (e.g., Asian Americans,
Blacks, Hispanic Americans,
Native Americans, Pacific Islanders)
in the keyword field of the
database search form.
MCH
Projects Database.
Comprises an online catalog of
projects funded by the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) through
October 1, 2004. MCHB funded several
projects that
address racial and ethnic disparities
in health. To identify them, enter
the term "minority groups" in
the abstract field of the database
search form and
select Status: Active. Click on Search to get your results. Several final
reports from
these projects are available online. See MCHB's Discretionary Grant Information System (DGIS) for information on projects funded after October 1, 2004.
- National
Association of County and City
Health Officials: Model Practice
Database.
Contains information about
model and promising state and
local public health program
practices.
Search by state or health topic.
For effective programs to address
racial and ethnic disparities
in health, select Model
Practice Database and choose
Find a model or promising practice by
category.
Conduct two separate searches
by choosing the categories,
Cultural Competence and Health
Equity.
- TRAIN
(TrainingFinder Real-time Affiliate
Integrated
Network).
Presents a system to find and register
for public health training programs;
track learning with personal online
transcripts; and access materials,
course reviews, and discussions. To
identify training courses about
racial and ethnic disparities
in health,
select Course
Search. Scroll the list of
subjects to highlight Minority
Health/Health Disparities.
Click on Search to get your
results. TRAIN is a free service
of the Public
Health Foundation (PHF).
Electronic
Newsletters
- Families USA: Minority Health Connection.
This monthly newsletter announces new
resources in minority health, addresses how
major health policy issues affect
communities of color, and presents comments
from leaders in the field of racial
and ethnic health disparities.
- Kaiser
Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look at Race,
Ethnicity and Health. This weekly
electronic newsletter synthesizes news coverage
from hundreds of print and broadcast news sources
related to health and health care issues that
affect racial and ethnic communities. The report
also highlights new studies and journal articles,
initiatives, developments in the field, and upcoming
events.
- Medical
Education Futures Study (MEFS)
Newsletter.
This periodic electronic newsletter
covers news and articles about
creating
a more ethnically and racially diverse
physician work force, issues about
the social mission
of
medical education, and new MEFS
products.
Special Topic: Cultural
and Linguistic Competence
- Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality
(AHRQ): Health
Literacy and Cultural Competency.
Presents research and program information
and a collection of resources about
health literacy
and
cultural
and linguistic competence.
- Cross
Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP).
Presents information about research
and training programs, a bibliography,
and a collection of resource
guides
on topics surrounding
culturally and linguistically appropriate
health
care services for medical interpreters,
health professionals, social service
providers, and others
working with limited English proficiency
(LEP) populations. CCHCP aims to
serve as a bridge between communities
and health
care institutions to ensure full access
to quality health care that is culturally
and linguistically appropriate, thereby
reducing health disparities.
- Cultural
Diversity, Health Disparities and
Public Health. Presents
a Webcast that aims to provide
public health professionals with
a broad overview of cultural diversity
issues with a focus on race, ethnicity,
and gender. Health disparities
are discussed using cultural diversity
as the conceptual framework
for thinking about the role of
the public health community and
health policy solutions for addressing
these issues. The Webcast, presented
by the Alabama Department of Public
Health, originally aired November
28, 2007. Handouts
and
assignments
accompany the Webcast.
- Culture
and Health Literacy.
Presents an online training module for health professionals and policymakers
about how inequalities in health
information contribute to unequal
treatment and health outcomes for some populations
and what communities can do to
eliminate health disparities and
improve health literacy. The module
is presented by the University
of Minnesota Midwest Center for
Life-Long-Learning in Public Health.
- Culture
Clues™.
Presents
tip sheets for medical professionals
to consider when working with patients
from African American, American
Indian/Alaska Native, Chinese,
Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, Korean,
Latino, Russian, Somali, and Vietnamese
cultures.
Culture
Clues™ are a resource of the
University of Washington
Medical
Center.
- EthnoMed.
Contains information about cultural
beliefs, medical issues, and other
related issues pertinent to the health
care of recent immigrants to the Seattle
area. Much of the information is applicable
to other geographic areas in the United
States. EthnoMed is a joint project
of the University of Washington Health
Sciences Library and the Harborview
Medical Center.
- Hablamos
Juntos (HJ).
Contains program information and
a bibliography of materials about
developing affordable models for
health professionals to overcome
language barriers and to develop
the business case for language
services. Topics include signage,
translation and production
of Spanish-language materials,
and interpreter services. HJ is
funded by the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
- Health
Literacy Studies (HLS).
Includes research and program materials
for health-literacy initiatives,
including those designed for particular
racial and ethnic groups. HLS is
a program of the Harvard
School of Public Health (HSPH).
- LEP.gov.
Offers links to information, tools,
and technical assistance about LEP
and language services for federal agencies,
recipients of federal funds,
users of federal programs and federally
assisted programs, and the general
public. LEP.gov was created by the
Federal Interagency Working Group on
Limited English Proficiency to promote
a positive and cooperative understanding
of the importance of language access
to federal programs and federally assisted
programs.
- National
Center for Cultural Competence
(NCCC).
Presents resources to increase
the capacity of health and mental
health
programs to design, implement,
and evaluate culturally and linguistically
competent service-delivery systems.
Provides tools and processes for
individual and organizational self-assessment,
a consultants list, training modules,
a resource
database, a section about working
with linguistically diverse populations,
highlights of promising
practices
in cultural
and linguistic
competence, and publications that
include Spanish-language
materials. NCCC is part of the Georgetown
University Center for Child and
Human Development.
Recent resources include
And the journey continues: Achieving cultural and linguistic competence in systems serving children and youth with special health care needs and their families. (2007). [Report].
Body/Mind/Spirit:
Toward a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model of Health. Presents a framework
for health professionals on spirituality and
religion in health. Addresses
the potential role of
spirituality and religion in how an
individual copes with illness,
health care decision-making, and health
outcomes. Includes literature reviews,
international and domestic publications,
references, and other resources.
Incorporating
cultural and linguistic competence in the diagnosis and
treatment of depression. (2008).
[Online continuing medical
education
activity].
NCCC Resource Database.
Presents information about demographic
data, policies, practices, articles,
books, research initiatives and
findings, curricula, multimedia materials,
and Web sites about cultural and
linguistic competence. Search
by keyword, population group, title, author, publication type, and
publication date to identify materials.
- National
Health Law Program (NHeLP): Language
Access in Health Care.
Presents a collection of resources
about improving policies and funding
for access to health care for
individuals with LEP. Recent publications
include
Language access in health care statement of principles. (2007).
Language access: Understanding
the barriers and challenges in
primary
care settings. Perspectives from
the field. (2008). [Report].
Serving patients with limited
English proficiency: Results of
a community health center survey. (2008). [Report].
- National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
Offers online collections of resources
for and about specific populations: American
Indian Health, Arctic
Health, Asian
American Health.
Includes links to background on
cultural traditions and heritage
and to information on health topics
especially relevant to the population
group. NLM also presents a collection
of multicultural
resources for health information.
Also see NLM's PubMed and
MedlinePlus resources on health
disparities, health
information in multiple languages,
and population
group topics.
- New
Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners:
NJ Cultural Competency.
Describes requirements
for physician training in cultural
competency in New Jersey. Links
to the state statute and set of regulations
governing the requirements.
- Office
of Minority Health (OMH): Cultural
Competency.
Defines cultural competence and
provides a glossary of terms about cultural
and linguistic competence in health. Presents
guides; standards; training tools; information
about policies, initiatives, and laws; and
additional resources to help health professionals
and health care organizations remove
cultural and linguistic barriers to health.
Recent
resources and initiatives include
National
standards on culturally
and linguistically
appropriate services
(CLAS). (2007).
Think
Cultural Health. Offers
online courses accredited
for continuing education credit
as well as supplementary tools
to help health professionals promote
cultural competence
in health care.
- America's
Health Insurance Plans. 2006.
Tools
to address disparities in health:
Communications resources
to close the gap. A compendium
of resources for health insurance
plans, physicians,
and health care organizations.
Washington, DC: America's Health
Insurance Plans.
This compendium provides culturally relevant
resources and actions that health
insurance plans, physicians and
clinicians, and
health care organizations can integrate
into organization-wide initiatives
and incorporate in everyday communications
with health care consumers. Topics
include
types of health information requested
by consumers; consumer views and
attitudes on the collection of
data by race, ethnicity,
and primary language by health insurance
plans, hospitals, and others; a review
of current research on improving
access and cross-cultural communications;
recommendations
to improve consumer knowledge and
awareness of health disparities;
and culturally
and linguistically appropriate health
care messages and services.
- National
Quality Forum (NQF). 2008. National
voluntary consensus standards for a
framework and preferred practices
for measuring and reporting cultural
competency [DRAFT].
Washington, DC: National Quality
Forum (NQF). This draft document
presents a national framework/core
competencies for evaluating cultural competence
across all health care settings,
as well as a minimum set of preferred
practices based on the framework.
Also see the announcement about
the draft framework and request
for comments on the draft.
- Office
of the Surgeon General. 2006. Proceedings
of the Surgeon General's Workshop
on Improving Health Literacy.
Washington, DC: Office of the Surgeon
General. These proceedings
describe a workshop to present the
state of the science in the field
of health
literacy. Participants identified
the public health consequences of
limited health
literacy and established an evidence
base for taking action. Panels covered
health literacy, literacy, and health
outcomes; meeting the health literacy
needs of non-English speakers, minority
populations, older adults, and children;
and helping the public become more
involved in meeting their health-information
needs. Following the workshop, the
Department
of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
held
a series of town hall meetings to learn
about promising health literacy practices
and to obtain input into a national
action plan. View the
town
hall meeting summaries
and a collection
of resources for improving health literacy.
- Weiss
L, Bauer T, Hill C, Fuld J, Bergman
J. 2006. Language
as a barrier to health care for
New York City children
in immigrant families: Haitian,
Russian and Latino perspectives.
New York, NY: New
York Academy of Medicine.
This paper adds to and complements
the existing literature on language
access by
focusing on the consumer's perspective,
including consumers' descriptions of how
language affects enrollment in insurance and
use of health care services and the strategies
used to reduce the impact of LEP.
- See the American
Medical Association (AMA) publications,
Assessing
the nation's health literacy: Key
concepts and findings of the
National Assessment of Adult Literacy
(NAAL) (2008) and
Office
guide to communicating with
limited English proficient
patients, 2nd ed. (2007).
- See the Commonwealth
Fund reports, Cultural
competency and quality of care:
Obtaining the patient's perspective
(2006), Improving
quality and achieving equity: The
role of cultural competence in reducing racial and ethnic disparities
in health care (2006), and Resident
physicians' preparedness
to provide cross-cultural
care: Implications for clinical
care and medical education policy
(2007).
- See the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issue brief, Sound
of success: Efficient and effective language
services becoming a reality in some hospitals
(2008) and the Speaking together toolkit (2008).
- Also see the Maternal and Child Health Library.
Resources
for Consumers
Find
Care
Web
Sites for
Consumers
- MedlinePlus:
Health Disparities. Gives links to information in English and
Spanish about health differences between groups of people, including racial
and ethnic minorities.
- MedlinePlus:
Health Information in Multiple Languages. Gives links to health
information in languages other than English.
- MedlinePlus:
Population Groups Topics.
Gives links to health
information in English and Spanish
for African Americans, Asian
Americans, Hispanic Americans,
and Native
Americans.
- MySistahs.
Presents information by and
for young women of color about sexual
and reproductive health issues. Includes
a peer educator question-and-answer
service.
- National
Women's Health Information Center
(NWHIC): Minority Women's Health.
Gives links to information
about the health risks of special
concern to women who are African
American, American
Indian, Asian
American, Hispanic American,
Native Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian
and from other Pacific Island groups.
- Office
of Minority Health (OMH): Health
Topics.
Presents publications and Web sites
on health issues affecting African
Americans, American
Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian
Americans, Hispanic Americans,
and
Native Hawaiians and other Pacific
Islanders.
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo,
M.L.S., Maternal and Child Health Library.
Reviewers: Lauren Agoratus, M.A., Family
Voices and Family-To-Family Health
Information Resource Center at the Statewide
Parent Advocacy Network of N.J.; M. Clare
Dunne, M.S.W., National Sudden and Unexpected
Infant/Child Death and Pregnancy Loss Resource
Center; S. Jean Emans, M.D., Children's
Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School;
Rachel Y. Moon, M.D., Children's National
Medical Center and George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences;
Olivia K. Pickett, M.A., M.L.S., Maternal
and
Child Health Library.
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