This study looks at the relationship between the level of segregation in metro areas in the U.S. and the health of the people who live in these communities. Metro areas with the highest levels of segregation have the largest health inequities (e.g., people of color will live far shorter lives than whites).

One of the hardest things that I have ever done was to leave my family practice of 21 years and my patients to enter the world of national politics. I practiced pretty much full-time, right up to winning my primary.

However, I left with a commitment to make a difference in the health care and health status of communities like mine which have long suffered from the impact of health inequities. It has been my main focus since coming to Washington.

In a country of plenty such as ours -- one founded on principles of equality and justice -- that African-Americans and Native Americans in particular, but all people of color in general, suffer disproportionately from disease and die in excess numbers prematurely from preventable causes is inexcusable and unacceptable.

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In addition to the health impact of health disparities, there also is a cost to everyone from the existence of these and other disparities.  In fact, a study launched by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that the three-year estimate of the direct and indirect medical costs of health disparities was $1.24 trillion.

Read more at The Huffington Post.

(via Community-Campus Partnerships for Health)

July 14, 2011 – Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) and the Center for Community Health Education Research and Service (CCHERS) are pleased to announce they have been awarded funding from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) for the National Community Partner Forum, “Realizing the Promise of Community-Engaged Health Disparities Research.” Designed “by and for” community partners involved in health disparities research, the forum will examine and address the challenges and issues they face, enhance their knowledge and skills, and build a network for ongoing shared learning, mentoring and professional development. Three critical questions will guide the forum:

• How do we ensure that communities most affected by health disparities are at the tables that decide what research gets conducted, how and by whom?
• How do we support communities most affected by health disparities to conduct and manage research?
• How do we ensure that social justice is central to community-engaged research?

To learn more about the forum, or the CCPH and CCHERS, access the press release, here.

Improving health inequity was a key focus of many of the sessions at the recent American Public Health Association Midyear Meeting.

NewPublicHealth spoke with Brian Smedley, Ph.D., director of the Health Policy Institute at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C. Dr. Smedley spoke about health equity during the meeting.

Read more at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Many state governors and legislatures want to trim Medicaid and other public programs in an effort to balance budgets. But cutting Medicaid to the bone won’t reduce the demand for health care, and it certainly won’t help people be healthy enough to contribute to an economic recovery.

Instead, policymakers should make smart investments to help people to stay healthy in the first place. How can government do this when resources are so limited?

Read more at The Milwaukee Courier.

For the past 109 years, the National Medical Association (NMA) has conducted its Annual Convention & Scientific Assembly, the nation’s foremost conference devoted to medical science and African American health.  This year the NMA Annual Convention will convene from July 23 – 27, 2011 in Washington, DC.

The 2011 NMA Annual Convention & Scientific Assembly offers an exciting venue to interact with the largest spectrum of African American physicians, academicians and scientists in the country as well as other allied health professionals. The scientific program will begin with the Opening Award/Mazique Symposium on Saturday, July 23rd and continue to Sunday, July 24th through Wednesday, July 27th. 

The Joint Center Health Policy Institute will be participating in the Floyd J. Malveaux Symposium on Tuesday, July 26, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Dr. Brian Smedley will serve on a panel entitled The Economic Impact of Health Disparities.

For more information, please visit the Convention website.

The Consortium for Health Education, Economic Empowerment and Research (CHEER) will host a three-day regional conference to promote health equity among minority communities beginning June 20.

The conference will be held at the Cook Convention Center. CHEER, an initiative aimed at health equity research and housed at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), is a partnership of seven organizations working to develop, share and put to use research that impacts minority health and reduces health inequities.  

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Speakers will include: Brian Smedley, PhD, vice president and director of the Health Policy Institute, a division of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C.; Alvin Poussaint, MD, psychiatrist, media consultant, author, and co-author with Bill Cosby of “Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors,” and Bishop William Young, pastor of The Healing Center in Memphis and founder of the annual Suicide and the Black Church Conference. 

Read more at The Tri-State Defender.

Racial/ethnic disparities in health and health care in the United States are persistent and well documented. Communities of color fare far worse than their white counterparts across a range of health indicators: life expectancy, infant mortality, prevalence of chronic diseases, self-rated health status, insurance coverage, and many others. As the nation’s population continues to become increasingly diverse—people of color are projected to comprise 54% of the U.S. population by 2050 and more than half of U.S. children by 2023— these disparities are likely to grow if left unaddressed. Recent health care reform legislation, while not a panacea for eliminating health disparities, offers an important first step and an unprecedented opportunity to improve health equity in the United States.

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The Joint Center's Health Policy Institute, recently released a report entitled "Following the Money: Tracking Federal AIDS Appropriations to Address Disparities in HIV and AIDS Treatment in the United States", which explores the path of federal funding in HIV and AIDS prevention. The Report finds that HIV/AIDS is not one epidemic in the United States but rather has become multiple epidemics affecting different communites at different rates and through different vectors of transmission. Tragically, some of the communities least prepared to deal with the spread of HIV are communities that are most vulnerable and have received the least federal resources to combat the disease. There are several strategies needed to ensure the resources flow to communities proportionate to need.

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Over the past five years, racial and ethnic disparities in health care and health status have been highlighted in a series of governmental and non-governmental reports. The nature and extent of the problem should be obvious to all who are paying attention. However, less is known or shared about solutions that can be adopted in local communities, especially where the problems are most severe. The importance of community cannot be overstated. It is the community environment that determines the toxins people are exposed to, their opportunities for exercise, healthy eating and living, and the health care services they can access. Moreover, people of color are exposed to an additional stress in the form of racism, which can have a harmful long-term impact on their health. In short, the overall vitality of a community — the economic opportunities available, the social support networks, and the public infrastructure — plays a major role in families’ ability to improve their health and wellbeing. This brief offers a framework for strengthening communities to improve the health and well-being of residents. A collaboration between the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and PolicyLink, this brief is one of four that outline strategies for achieving better health through community-focused solutions.

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