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Blog: National Partnership for Action
Health Disparities
Closing the Gap on Asthma
Posted on 5/31/2012 by J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE
Asthma affects nearly 26 million Americans, including 7 million children. While advancements in treatment and interventions have improved health outcomes for many suffering from this respiratory disease, that progress has not yet reached everyone. Poor and minority children bear the greatest burden of the disease, suffering from asthma at higher rates, experiencing greater exposure to environmental triggers, and receiving less access to quality care. Today, the Obama Administration launches a new approach to closing that gap: the Coordinated Federal Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Asthma Disparities. The result of a collaborative interagency effort led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Action Plan presents a framework for coordinating federal resources to get the right asthma care with the right support to the children who need it most. Asthma currently affects 16 percent of non-Hispanic black children, 10.7 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native children, and 7.9 percent of Hispanic children (16.5 percent among Puerto Rican children), compared to 8.2 percent of non-Hispanic white children and 6.8 percent of Asian children. Minority children with asthma are also less likely to receive regular care and recommended treatment, and more likely to be hospitalized for their condition. For example, non-Hispanic black children are twice as likely to be hospitalized and four times more likely to die due to asthma than non-Hispanic white children. In many instances, the burden of disease among minority children is worsened by social and environmental factors relating to where children live, learn, and play – such as environmental exposures to tobacco smoke, air pollution, mold, or other allergens and pollutants and lack of family resources for asthma management at home. While we do not yet have interventions that prevent the onset of asthma, we know that there are evidence-based measures that can reduce asthma mortality and improve the quality of life for those living with the disease. The Action Plan seeks to reduce barriers to comprehensive care, improve intervention strategies, and strengthen partnerships among federal programs to better reach communities with racial and ethnic asthma disparities. In doing so, the Action Plan builds on major federal initiatives to reduce health disparities, promote health equity and expand access to health care - most notably, the Affordable Care Act and the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. The Affordable Care Act represents one of the most significant efforts in our nation's history to increase access to affordable, high-quality care - ensuring, for example, that children cannot be denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions such as asthma; and investing in community health centers, which provide care to vulnerable and underserved communities. In turn, the HHS Disparities Action Plan provides a coordinated roadmap to realizing a nation free of disparities in health and health care. Today, as agencies across the government join together in launching a comprehensive effort to address racial and ethnic disparities in asthma, we can celebrate another step forward in fulfilling our vision of a nation where everyone has a chance to live a healthy life. Learn more about the Asthma Disparities Action Plan at http://www.epa.gov/asthma/childrenstaskforce. Posted in: Health Minority Populations Health Disparities Health Conditions | Comments | Add a Comment | Comment Policy | Permalink Empowerment, Education, & Advocacy for LGBTQ Youth
Posted on 4/3/2012 by Lillian Rivera
The Hetrick-Martin Institute, the nation’s oldest and largest Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth serving agency, has been addressing health disparities amongst LGBTQ youth of color since its inception in 1979. We lost our first young person to AIDS in 1987 and our founders a few years later. HIV has had an enormous impact on our communities and continues to rise amongst our youngest. We have been at the forefront in articulating how our society creates conditions that facilitate infection amongst young men who have sex with men and will continue doing so for the health of our community. Our LGBTQ youth are also impacted significantly by the negative health outcomes of victimization. LGBTQ youth are subjected to harassment and bullying at significantly greater rates than other youth, which in turn produce mental health stressors. LGBTQ youth do not have special needs but they do have unique challenges that require affirmative support. LGBTQ youth need what all young people need – the opportunity to succeed, adults that support them, and a safe and supportive environment in which to thrive. Isolation, rejection, harassment are too common is the lives of too many LGBTQ youth therefore Hetrick-Martin is committed to creating programming from a strength based perspective that celebrates the actuality of all young people. Our programs provide youth, between the ages of 12 and 24, with skills they will need to transition to a healthy adulthood, the knowledge to utilize their skill set to the best of their ability and the self-perception that they are worthy of succeeding. We provide wraparound services all year round in five service areas: Academic Enrichment, Arts & Culture, Job Readiness, Health & Wellness and Mental Health. Our programs are available to youth all year round and free of charge. Our programs affirm and celebrate all young people from a strength-based perspective therefore youth attending HMI programs are not “at-risk” but are at promise youth; youth at promise for success, happiness and full integration into their adult identities. Our CHAT program, funded by the Office of Minority Health, provides young people a voice by training them to be peer educators and giving them skills necessary to spread their knowledge using social media. Youth within this program have created videos, blogs and developed twitter messages addressing health disparities within their community. Our Stars of CHANGE program, funded by the AIDS Institute, a community-level intervention developed to build leadership amongst house/ball young people provides youth the opportunity to develop messages for their community and lead the way in addressing HIV infection. Young people participating in this intervention have successfully developed social marketing strategies that are referenced regularly throughout New York City. Our Street Smart intervention, funded by the CDC, is tailored to meet the needs of young trans women of color. This program has integrated a record number of trans women into our agency in the last year alone. We have been able to engage the young women around their HIV-risk behavior and successfully connected to our on-site partner medical provider, HEAT program. Our programs not only impart knowledge to young people, but we empower youth to take control of their health issues. Youth are partners in the development of these strategies, which provide a skill set that assists in their professional growth. In order to continue to address the health disparities experienced by LGBTQ youth of color we must dismantle and train a critical eye on the systems that facilitate their existence. We must address the young person within the systems in which they live as we address the system itself. Understanding the impact that poverty has on health disparities would move us closer to closing this gap. Critically understanding the challenges faced by LGBTQ youth and how these challenges will frame their access to health promotion is essential to addressing these issues. Posted in: Health Disparities National Minority Health Month | Comments | Add a Comment | Comment Policy | Permalink Making History: Eliminating Viral Hepatitis Disparities in the African American Community
Posted on 2/13/2012 by By J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE
Cross-posted from the AIDS.gov blog. During February's observance of African American History Month, please join us in working to end the unfortunate history of viral hepatitis' disproportionate impact on the African American community. This Administration is working hard to reduce and eliminate health disparities and achieve health equity. Unfortunately, viral hepatitis is a health problem that is often overlooked by the public as well as healthcare providers. This, despite the fact that viral hepatitis is a leading infectious cause of death, claiming the lives of 12,000-15,000 Americans each year. As many as 5.3 million Americans are living with viral hepatitis, though most do not know that they are infected. This places them at greater risk for severe, even fatal, complications from the disease and increases the likelihood that they will spread the virus to others. What Is Hepatitis? Viral Hepatitis Disparities
Viral Hepatitis Action Plan In addition, the Viral Hepatitis Action Plan is both supported by and complements several other initiatives unfolding within HHS and across the Federal government, including the:
Your Help Is Essential Posted in: Health Minority Populations Health Disparities Vaccines | Comments | Add a Comment | Comment Policy | Permalink Commemorating National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Posted on 2/8/2012 by Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to the President
Cross-posted from the whitehouse.gov blog. On this, the 12th annual National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I remember my sister-in-law's fight with the disease. Tragically, she did not win that fight - she left behind a devastated husband and five-year old daughter. But it is in her memory, and the memory of all the friends and loved ones we have lost, that we vow to keep working toward the day when HIV/AIDS is history. This past December, on World AIDS Day, President Obama spoke about the United States' commitment to ending HIV/AIDS. In a speech at George Washington University, he told the audience, "Make no mistake, we are going to win this fight. But the fight is not over … not by a long shot." Sadly, this is especially true in the African-American community. Black Americans represent 12 percent of the U.S. population, but they account for 44 percent of new HIV infections. Among young black gay men alone, infections have increased by nearly 50 percent in just three years, and black women account for the largest share of HIV infections among women. We each must do our part by getting tested regularly, and by educating those in our community about what they can do to help end the epidemic. President Obama is committed to doing his part as well. In 2010, he released the nation's first comprehensive HIV/AIDS plan. Together with Secretary Clinton, he has helped assemble a coalition of governments, healthcare professionals, and service providers. They have set a goal that would have been unthinkable just a few decades ago: an AIDS-free generation, in which virtually all children are bornHIV-free, and prevention tools help them stay HIV-free throughout their lives. We will not achieve this goal overnight. But we know that we must keep making progress, each and every day. For our communities and our families, the stakes are simply too high for us to be satisfied with anything less. So today, we do more than commemorate those we have lost. We rededicate ourselves to the work ahead. Because even when it comes to an epidemic as devastating as HIV/AIDS, we have the chance to write our own destiny. As President Obama said in December, "We can end this pandemic. We can beat this disease. We can win this fight." For more information about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and this Administration's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the Black community, visit http://www.aids.gov. Posted in: Health Health Disparities | Comments | Add a Comment | Comment Policy | Permalink Remembering Dr. King: Eliminating Injustice in Health Care
Posted on 1/17/2012 by Dr. J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said : "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane." Dr. King worked tirelessly to create a just and equitable nation. And today, as we honor his legacy, we reflect on our own response to his call for justice. Despite the progress we have made, we know that underserved communities may not have equal access to health care - or similar health care outcomes. Low-income Americans, racial and ethnic minorities, and other underserved populations often have higher rates of disease, fewer treatment options, and reduced access to care and coverage. Here at the Department of Health and Human Services, we are constantly working towards a healthier America: committed to ensuring that all Americans achieve health equity by eliminating disparities and doing what we can to improve the health of all communities. The Affordable Care Act will help reduce health disparities by expanding health coverage to 34 million Americans, preventing the worst insurance company abuses, and bringing new funding to community health centers, an important safety net for vulnerable populations. Together, the HHS Strategic Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities and the Affordable Care Act will guide us in our efforts to improve access to quality care and reduce health disparities. We can and will do more to ensure justice in healthcare and improve the lives of millions of Americans. Posted in: Health Minority Populations Health Disparities Rights | Comments | Add a Comment | Comment Policy | Permalink Top 5 recent blog topics are shown on this page. Please use search feature for other blog topics.
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