Health News

Chicago food deserts hit hard at residents’ health

Kendall Alexander — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:21:17 -0400

Medill Reports Chicago March 10, 2010

At the intersection of Madison Street and Western Avenue on Chicago's Near West Side, a Walgreens banner reads "New expanded food center."

Walking through the food center, customers find produce, dairy and fresh meal options alongside the predictable canned foods, TV dinners and snack packs. But the fresh options are precious in an area where access to mainstream grocery stores is limited-a food desert.

A Heavy Problem

Kendall Alexander — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:24:52 -0500

March 12, 2010 The Huffington Post

Welcome to the inaugural blog post from Destination Casa Blanca, the Latino Voice in Politics, carried since 2008 on Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, HITN. Each week I'll post some thoughts from the latest show, and of course we want you to talk back to your television set, answering with reactions and conclusions of your own.

A cry for affordable, fresh foods

Kendall Alexander — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:31:00 -0500

March 11, 2010 Tri-State Defender

Healthy eating is good for your waistline but hard on your wallet. A sausage and biscuit from your favorite fast-food restaurant might sell for 99 cents while the more healthy fruit and walnut salad is priced at $2.99.

Health Problems Fuel Achievement Gaps, Study Says

Kendall Alexander — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:50:11 -0500

March 9, 2010 Education Week

If educators and federal officials are serious about closing academic-achievement gaps, they need to better coordinate efforts to address the health disparities that impede learning for students from disadvantaged groups, according to a study scheduled for release today.

Ex-Surgeon General: U.S. has means to heal racial gaps in health care

Kendall Alexander — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:45:16 -0500

March 5, 2010 TheDay

The strong evidence of the racial and ethnic health gap in this country and good understanding of many of its causes means that at least some of the solutions are also within reach, former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher said Thursday.

Satcher, surgeon general in the Clinton administration and now director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, made his remarks during his keynote address at a two-day symposium on inequality in health care at Connecticut College.

Tackling health inequity? It's about changing the dynamics of political power

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:49:50 -0500

March 1, 2010 The Crikey Health Blog

Continuing the Croakey series on health inequalities, Marilyn Wise, manager of the healthy public policy team at the Centre for Health Equity Research Training and Evaluation (CHETRE) at UNSW, suggests that there are several possible ways forward.

Congressional Black Caucus calls for more racial equality in health care reform

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 10:38:09 -0500

February 25, 2010

In twin letters sent to President Barack Obama and top Democratic congressional leaders in advance of today's White House health-care summit, the Congressional Black Caucus is appealing for tougher efforts to reduce racial disparities in the health system.

Michelle Obama speaks frankly about race

Kendall Alexander — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:29:51 -0500

Politico February 19, 2010

In tackling the problem of childhood obesity, first lady Michelle Obama is doing something that her husband rarely does - talking about an issue bluntly in terms of race and helping urban America.

She is, some say, filling a role that Barack Obama seems less inclined to fill, serving as a kind of bridge from the White House to black America in much the same way that she functioned during the campaign, observers said.

NEWS RELEASE: Obama Administration Details Healthy Food Financing Initiative

Kendall Alexander — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:34:06 -0500

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services February 19, 2010

Insurer Delays Rate Increase in California

Kendall Alexander — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:36:05 -0500

Wall Street Journal February 14, 2010

Health insurer Anthem Blue Cross will postpone its much-criticized plan to raise rates for some California residents who buy insurance on their own, after reaching a deal Saturday with state regulators.

Anthem's planned rate increase, which the state estimates would affect about 700,000 customers, averaged 25% and would have been as high as 39% for some.

Jacksonville agencies urge citizens to take up movement of health equity

Kendall Alexander — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:37:36 -0500

Jacksonville News January 25, 2010

They want people to stand up and demand better.

Better access to healthy foods, cleaner neighborhoods and more affordable health care - to name a few things.

In another era, they might have been called agitators. But now the ideas of social justice and health equity have become so mainstream that the movement's leaders are familiar names: the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission and the Duval County Health Department.

Black Journalists' Group to Hold Conference on African-American Health and Health Care Disparities

Kendall Alexander — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:33:29 -0500