The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Orleans Parish, LA, Place Matters team today released a report documenting how neighborhood social and economic conditions in New Orleans powerfully shape racial and ethnic health inequities in the city.

Place Matters for Health in Orleans Parish: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All finds that residents’ zip codes are an important indicator of the health and health risks.  Importantly, because of persistent racial and class segregation, place of residence is an especially important driver of the poorer health outcomes of the city’s non-white and low-income residents.

The report, prepared by the Joint Center and the Orleans Parish Place Matters team in conjunction with the Center for Human Needs at Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research, was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health.   The study provides a comprehensive analysis of the range of social, economic and environmental conditions in New Orleans – which is the only municipal jurisdiction in the parish – and documents their relationship to the health status of the city’s residents.
 

Delegate Donna M. Christensen of the U.S. Virgin Islands cites Joint Center research during a session of the United States House of Representatives on March 19, 2012.

The video can be found at C-SPAN.

Many nonwhite populations in the United States have poorer health relative to whites across a wide array of health measures. Many also face greater barriers to accessing high-quality health care than whites, barriers that a growing number of public and private sector actors seeks to eliminate. These efforts, however, have been impaired by an inadequate understanding of race and ethnicity in the U.S. context. What defines a “racial” or “ethnic” group? Why do race and ethnicity matter when it comes to health research and health care? Absent clear answers to these questions, researchers, policy makers, and the general public frequently resort to antiquated assumptions about race, ethnicity, and human variability that obscure a more accurate understanding of the role that these factors play in contributing to health inequities.

This brief serves as a starting point for those who wish to better understand race, ethnicity, and the use of these categories in health. In the first half of the brief, the difference between race and ethnicity is reviewed and an overview of genetics is presented in order to explain why race is in fact not genetic. The second half of this brief reviews the history of race data collection by federal agencies. This history demonstrates the social construction of race by chronicling how race categories
have changed over time. In addition, it reminds us that government agencies are crucial sites for determining what race is and how it will be used. Finally, in the last section of the brief, major challenges to accurate data collection are reviewed and several actions are recommended that the federal governmentcould take to move the field of health and health care disparities research to its next stage.

Dr. Brian Smedley will participate in a webinar discussion on strategies used for adoption and implementation of policies and approaches that address health equity. The webinar will draw on promising practices from federal, state health agencies, tribal entities, and other community partners.

Health equity is an economic issue as well as a social justice issue. Significant inequities and disparities exist between different racial/ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, geographical location, and in social determinants of health such as poverty, education, inadequate housing, and unsafe working conditions. The burden of health inequities constitutes a huge financial and social cost to our nation in terms of the quantity and quality of life.

During this webcast, participants will:

• Increase awareness of the economic impact of health equity and opportunities to inform federal, state, tribal, and local partners.
• Understand the unique opportunities to address the economic impact of health equity with partners in tribal health and other racial/ ethnic groups.
• Increase sharing of best and promising practices and policies in the economic case for health equity.

REGISTER HERE.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will hold a briefing on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at which we will launch a new report, “Race and Ethnicity Data Collection:  Beyond Standardization.”  The briefing at the Joint Center will feature a discussion with the report’s author, Brooke Cunningham, M.D., Ph.D., a fellow in General Internal Medicine and Greenwall Fellow at the Berman Institute of Bioethics at the Johns Hopkins University.

Many healthcare professionals, researchers and policymakers are unclear as to how and why racial and ethnic factors are relevant in medicine and health research.  And despite new federal requirements for standardized race and ethnicity data collection, federal guidelines do not address the difficulties that researchers and policymakers have interpreting race and ethnicity data.

Dr. Cunningham’s report provides an overview of race and ethnicity that is intended to build a foundation for a more accurate understanding of the mechanisms through which race and ethnicity impact health.  Her review of these concepts reiterates the social nature of race, clarifies the difference between race and ethnicity and explains why race is not biological or genetic.

Following Dr. Cunningham’s presentation, a distinguished panel of respondents will offer commentary.  The panelists include, Vence Bonham, Associate Investigator in the Social and Behavioral Research Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and Senior Advisor to the NHGRI Director on the Societal Implications of Genomics; and Roderick Harrison, Senior Research Fellow, Civic Engagement and Governance Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at Howard University.

Lunch will be provided. Space is limited. To attend, RSVP to hpibrownbag@jointcenter.org.

Child advocates will meet in Washington, D.C., for a conference exclusively for Voices for America’s Children members and KIDS COUNT grantees. The conference, Turning Point for Kids: Our Decisions, America’s Future, will be held Wednesday, June 27th through Friday, June 29th at the Omni Shoreham Hotel.

HPI's Dr. Jermane Bond is scheduled to be a presenter at this event on June 27, while Dr. Brian Smedley will speak on June 28.

For more information, please visit Voices for America's Children.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies today joined forces with the National Minority Quality Forum to create a database that will offer lawmakers and community activists access to important data on local health and environmental conditions.

As a result of this collaboration, local civic and political leaders, other community activists and residents will have a powerful visual tool to assist them in communicating their concerns about health and environmental burdens in their neighborhoods.  Additionally, it will enable those making health and environmental decisions to better target their actions by understanding where these problems are most severe and where the most help is needed.

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The 95819 and 95817 ZIP codes, which encompass much of east Sacramento and Oak Park, respectively, share a border. Each has about 15,000 residents. But an analysis performed by the nonprofit Valley Vision on behalf of local hospitals in 2010 showed that Oak Park residents are more than three times as likely to go to the emergency room for asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure.

Given the potential of mobile broadband to play an outsized role in reducing the burden of chronic disease in communities of color, policymakers and healthcare institutions should seek to facilitate its use among minorities, according to a report released today by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.  

The report, “Minorities, Mobile Broadband and the Management of Chronic Diseases,” is part of a long-term research effort by the Joint Center Health Policy and Media and Technology Institutes aimed at improving the health and well-being of people of color, particularly by addressing the geographic, financial, cultural and linguistic barriers to quality health care and to specialty treatment.

The report can be found here.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is pleased to share an important new report, Minorities, Mobile Broadband, and the Management of Chronic Diseases, prepared by the Joint Center Media and Technology Institute and the Health Policy Institute with support from the UnitedHealth Group Foundation. This report considers the vast potential of mobile broadband technologies to help address some of the nation’s most pressing health concerns, and therefore is relevant and timely for policymakers’ consideration as the federal government implements the Affordable Care Act.