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 9-2), which displays information about disparities among select populations for which data were available for assessment.

Data to measure racial and ethnic disparities were only available for the Hispanic, black non-Hispanic, and white non-Hispanic populations. The black non-Hispanic and the Hispanic populations each had data available for 28 family planning objectives and subobjectives.

The white non-Hispanic population had the best rates, with disparities of at least 10 percent, for the following objectives and subobjectives: intended pregnancy (9-1), contraceptive use (9-3), contraceptive failure (9-4), adolescent pregnancy (9-7), abstinence for females aged 15 to 17 years (9-9a), condom plus hormonal use at first intercourse for unmarried males aged 15 to 17 years (9-10d), formal birth control methods education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11c), formal birth control methods education for males aged 15 to 19 years (9-11d), informal abstinence education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11i), informal abstinence education for males aged 15 to 19 years (9-11j), informal birth control methods education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11k), informal birth control methods education for males aged 15 to 19 years (9-11l), and informal STD education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11o). The black non-Hispanic population had the best rate of unmarried males aged 15 to 24 years who received birth control advice from a physician (9-6c) and for condom use at last intercourse among unmarried males aged 15 to 17 years (9-10f).

The middle/high-income population had the best rate, with significant income disparities or disparities of at least 10 percent, for intended pregnancies (9-1), birth spacing (9-2), contraceptive use (9-3), contraceptive failure (9-4), unmarried males aged 15 to 24 years who had gone to a family planning clinic with a female partner (9-6a), unmarried males aged 15 to 24 years who have received birth control counseling from a family planning clinic (9-6b), condom plus hormonal use at first intercourse for unmarried females aged 15 to 17 years (9-10c), condom plus hormonal use at first intercourse for unmarried males aged 15 to 17 years (9-10d), formal birth control methods education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11c), formal birth control methods education for males aged 15 to 19 years (9-11d), informal abstinence education for males aged 15 to 19 years (9-11j), informal birth control methods education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11k), and informal birth control methods education for males aged 15 to 19 (9-11l). The near-poor group had the best rates for informal abstinence education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11i), informal STD education for females aged 15 to 19 years (9-11o), and informal STD education for males aged 15 to 19 years (9-11p).

In 2002, the disparity in birth spacing (9-2) between poor women and women of middle/high income was 50 percent to 99 percent. This disparity decreased by more than 100 percent after 1995. All income groups moved away from the target. The decrease in disparity occurred because closely spaced births increased at a greater rate for middle/high-income females than for poor females.

In 2000, the adolescent pregnancy rates (9-7) of the Hispanic and black non-Hispanic populations were more than twice the rate of the white non-Hispanic (best) population. The disparities between these populations and the best group increased between 1996 and 2000. Overall, the disparities from the best rate for these two populations exceeded 100 percent.

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