lunes, 13 de abril de 2015

Minority Health Month: Making Progress on Health Disparities

Dept. of Health & Human Services
Apr 13, 2015
By: Sylvia Mathews Burwell, HHS Secretary
Half a century ago, our nation was in the midst of a Civil Rights revolution. Over these last few years, we’ve reached several milestones: the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, Dr. King’s transformative “I Have a Dream” speech, and the historic march from Selma to Montgomery.
As we commemorate these events, we feel the weight of their expectations. We see the path that has moved us closer to justice and equality, but we also see the stumbling blocks and shortcomings along the way. April is National Minority Health Month, and while health equity is always a top priority at the Department of Health and Human Services, it’s an important time to highlight how far we’ve come, and how far we have left to go.
Today, African-Americans have the highest mortality rate of any racial and ethnic group for cancer generally and for most major cancers individually. Latino communities also suffer from disproportionate rates of illness, like cervical cancer. Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are more likely to have hepatitis B than non-Hispanic whites, and African-Americans, Latinos, and American Indians are all more likely to have diabetes.
The statistic that exacerbates all of these health realities is that communities of color are more likely to be uninsured than white Americans.
Working to close these racial and ethnic disparities is some of the most important work we do at HHS, and key to that work is giving more people of color access to quality, affordable health insurance.
READ MORE: Minority Health Month: Making Progress on Health Disparities
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