The Voice of Epidemiology

    
    


    Web EpiMonitor

► Home ► About ► News ► Job Bank Events ► Resources ► Contact
 
Progress And Challenges In Reducing Excess Deaths From Health Disparities

J Nadine Gracia, head of the Office of Minority Health at the US Department of Health and Human Services, described the evolution of US efforts to tackle health disparities. She highlighted the Heckler report on Black and Minority Health in 1985 as a transformational event that has served for 30 years as a driving force in the field. In analyzing mortality data from 1979 to 1981, the report estimated that 60,000 excess deaths occurred per year and identified six causes of death that together accounted in 1979-1981 for more than 80 percent of the excess mortality observed among Blacks and other minority groups. These causes were : cardiovascular disease, cancer, chemical dependency measured by deaths due to cirrhosis, diabetes, homicides and accidents, and infant mortality.

Gracia stated that important strides have been made in reducing certain disparities, but added that there is still a lot of work to do. She reminded the audience of the importance of addressing minority health issues because demographic shifts indicate that racial and ethnic minorities will be the majority population by 2044. She described the financial toll of health disparities as costing the country 1.24 trillion and said we have an economic and moral imperative to eliminate disparities.

Gracia described the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act as a historic shift and credited the Act with reducing the rate of uninsured persons and improving access to services and to care.

She closed her remarks by pointing out the importance of social determinants of health and said the government was accelerating efforts to achieve greater health equity. She called “good news” the fact that indicators of social determinants of health are included in the Health People 2020 plan of action.  ■


Reader Comments:
Have a thought or comment on this story ?  Fill out the information below and we'll post it on this page once it's been reviewed by our editors.
 

       
  Name:        Phone:   
  Email:         
  Comment: 
                 
 
       

           


 

 
 
 
      ©  2011 The Epidemiology Monitor

Privacy  Terms of Use  Sitemap

Digital Smart Tools, LLC