The place where 3-year-old Antoine Graves grows into adulthood is likely to determine whether he lives to be very old or dies young, according to a new study.

According to a new report entitled Place Matters for Health in Baltimore: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All, which contains research on health inequities in the city, researchers have concluded, yet again, that health disparities vary by neighborhood. The research shows that disproportionately it is people of color and the poor who live in neighborhoods that are likely to make them sick. The report was produced by the Washington D.C.-based Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that specializes in issues of interest to African Americans and Equity Matters, Inc.

“Forty to 70 percent of the reason people get sick is because of where they live, work and play,” said Michael Scott, chief equity officer and co-founder of Equity Matters, Inc. “The health disparities in Baltimore are caused by the institutional racism embedded in everything from housing to education.”

According to the report, the number of years a person is expected to live varied as much as 30 years, depending on whether they lived in a poor or wealthy neighborhood. The study was conducted between 2005 and 2009 and spanned the city. According to the data, the residents with the city’s highest life expectancy—81 to 86 years—live in the Inner Harbor/Federal Hill and Greater Roland Park Poplar areas. The areas with the lowest life expectancy include the Greenmont, Druid Hill and Westport neighborhoods, where people are not expected to live past 63 years old, the report shows.

Read more at The Afro.

Why do some people get sicker and die sooner than others? The answer involves more than our genes, behaviors and medical care, according to a new study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the advocacy group Equity Inc. It turns out that where we live is often the strongest predictor of our well-being, and that disparities along racial and class lines in health outcomes and access to care mirror the inequities in every other aspect of people's lives.

The report's findings confirm earlier studies that have shown persistently large gaps in health outcomes between different areas of the country, the state and even parts of the same city. In Baltimore, for example, residents of poor, largely African-American communities are known to suffer far higher rates of infant and child mortality, premature death and chronic illness than those of affluent, largely white neighborhoods elsewhere in the city.

Average life expectancy for affluent, white residents in Roland Park, for example, is nearly 30 years longer than for poor, African-American residents in Upton/Druid Heights. Meanwhile, the infant mortality rate among black women in some city neighborhoods is three or four times the state average. By almost any measure — including hospital visits for chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and asthma — place matters even more than access to care as the most important determinant of people's health and well-being.

Recognizing the urgency of producing better health outcomes for poor and minority residents, Maryland has encouraged the creation of so-called health enterprise zones in areas around the state where the disparities are greatest. The enterprise zones would offer tax incentives for doctors, hospitals, business groups, churches and community associations to form public-private partnerships that provide additional medical and support services to underserved communities.

Read more at The Baltimore Sun.

Researchers from the Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Human Needs have released the last three studies of an eight-part collaborative project with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies Health Policy Institute and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research.

These studies assessed population health inequities and related social and economic conditions in urban and rural communities across the United States. Working alongside the project partners were eight “Place Matters” teams consisting of individuals who work and live in each of the communities studied.

The new reports address conditions in Oakland in Alameda County, Calif.; Boston, Mass.; and South Delta, Miss. Previously released reports addressed conditions in San Joaquin Valley, Calif.; Orleans Parish, La.; Cook County, Ill.; Bernalillo County, N.M.; and Baltimore, Md.

Read more at Health Canal.

PLACE MATTERS for health in important ways, according to a growing body of research. Differences in neighborhood conditions powerfully predict who is healthy, who is sick, and who lives longer. And because of patterns of residential segregation, these differences are the fundamental causes of health inequities among different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the South Delta, MS, Place Matters Team are pleased to add to the existing knowledge base with this report, Place Matters for Health in the South Delta: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All, A Report on Health Inequities in the South Delta of Mississippi. The report, supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) of the National Institutes of Health and written in conjunction with the Center on Human Needs at the Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Network for Geospatial Health Research, provides a comprehensive analysis of the range of social, economic, and environmental conditions in the South Delta and documents their relationship to the health status of the county’s residents.

The study finds that social, economic, and environmental conditions in low-income and non-white neighborhoods make it more difficult for people in these neighborhoods to live healthy lives. The overall pattern in this report – and those of others that the Joint Center has conducted with other PLACE MATTERS communities – suggests that we need to tackle the structures and systems that create and perpetuate inequality to fully close racial and ethnic health gaps. Accordingly, because the Joint Center seeks not only to document these inequities, we are committed to helping remedy them.

Through our PLACE MATTERS initiative, which is generously supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we are working with leaders in 24 communities around the country to identify and address social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape health. We look forward to continuing to work with leaders in the South Delta and other communities to ensure that every child, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or place of residence, can enjoy the opportunity to live a healthy, safe, and productive life.

Another study is adding to growing evidence that the condition of a neighborhood can have a significant impact on its residents' health.

The latest by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and Equity Matters Inc. found that people living in Baltimore's lower-income neighborhoods had worse health outcomes than those in its more affluent areas.

Life expectancy varied by as much as 30 years between the city's poorest and wealthiest neighborhoods between 2005 and 2009, the study found. People lived longest in the greater Roland Park area in North Baltimore, 86.3 years, and shortest in Upton/Druid Heights, 56.7 years.

Because Baltimore has significant patterns of segregation, health disparities often align by race. For instance, in 2007 the premature death rate in Baltimore for blacks was 1.8 times higher than for whites.

Many characteristics of a neighborhood play a role in health outcomes, including access to medical care and healthful foods and exposure to violence and environmental hazards, the study found.

---

Read more at The Baltimore Sun.

The report, “Place Matters for Health in Baltimore:  Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All,” finds that residents’ place of residence is an important indicator of their 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 Baltimore Place Matters team, Equity Matters, Inc., 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 Baltimore—particularly as it relates to the quality of housing and educational opportunities—and documents their relationship to the health status of the city’s residents. 

The study finds that social, economic, and environmental conditions in low-income and non-white neighborhoods make it more difficult for people in these neighborhoods to live healthy lives.  Among the study’s key findings are that life expectancy in Baltimore varies by as much as 30 years depending on the census tract, and that census tracts with the lowest life expectancy tend to have a higher percentage of people of color and low-income residents.  Community-level risk factors, such as poor quality housing and education, are among the factors that predict health inequalities in the city.  Residents in census tracts characterized by a high density of liquor stores, vacant properties, rodent- or insect-infested homes, and lead exposure have an average life expectancy that is six to nine years shorter than residents of census tracts with the lowest rates of these characteristics.  Similarly, residents in areas with a better educational environment—such as a greater percentage of adults with a bachelor’s degree, lower school absenteeism rates, and fewer students scoring below basic proficiency levels—live nearly nine years longer than residents of neighborhoods with poorer educational environments.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will release a report, Place Matters for Health in Baltimore:  Ensuring Equitable Opportunities for Good Health.

The report documents a 30-year difference in life expectancy across census tracts in the city.  Census tracts with a high proportion of people of color, the report finds, disproportionately suffer from a lack of investment in the opportunity structures that help people to be healthy, such as high-quality schools and housing.  Conversely, these communities tend to host a disproportionate concentration of health risks, such as environmental degradation, vendors selling unhealthy products, and unsafe streets.

The report offers a number of policy strategies to address these neighborhood-level health risks.  Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) will comment on the report.
 

Read the entire report by clicking the icon below.

In celebration of Food Day—a nationwide celebration and movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food—the Mississippi South Delta PLACE MATTERS team held a community meeting to discuss the connection between the rise in obesity and lack of affordable, healthy foods in Sharkey and Issaquena counties. The South Delta PLACE MATTERS team is part of an initiative of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies that builds the capacity of communities to address social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape health and health outcomes.

---

The South Delta PLACE MATTERS team intends to draw attention to the root causes of this obesity crisis: the social, economic, and environmental factors that shape Mississippians’ opportunities to be healthy. Many neighborhoods in Sharkey and Issaquena counties lack the resources that residents need in order to buy healthy foods and live active lifestyles.

Download the full press release below.

In celebration of Food Day—a nationwide celebration and movement for healthy, affordable, and sustainable food—the Mid-Mississippi Delta PLACE MATTERS team held two community meetings to discuss the connection between the rise in obesity and lack of affordable, healthy foods in most Delta communities. The Mid Delta PLACE MATTERS team is part of an initiative of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies that builds the capacity of communities to address social, economic, and environmental conditions that shape health and health outcomes.

---

The Mid Delta PLACE MATTERS team intends to draw attention to the root causes of this obesity crisis: the social, economic, and environmental factors that shape Mississippians’ opportunities to be healthy. Many Delta neighborhoods lack the resources that support easily accessible and affordable healthy eating and active lifestyles.

Download the full press release below.

The Joint Center's Health Policy Institute held its second PLACE MATTERS National Health Equity Conference on September 5, 2012, at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, DC. Keynote speakers included Dr. Howard Frumkin of the University of Washington, Angela Glover Blackwell, Esq., of PolicyLink, and Geoffrey Canada of Harlem Children's Zone.