With all the mobile apps and resources available for games, entertainment and media, have you ever thought about the impact that mobile apps could have on your health? Introducing mHealth, the term used to describe the use of your mobile phone for health. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies released a report entitled “Minorities, Mobile Broadband, and the Management of Chronic Diseases,” which evaluates the vast potential of mobile broadband technologies to help address our nation’s most pressing health concerns.

Currently, chronic diseases disproportionately affect minority communities. These diseases include diabetes, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and obesity to name a few. The CDC reports that each year 7 out of 10 Americans die from illnesses related to chronic disease. Heart disease, cancer, and stroke account for more than 50% of all deaths in the US. In 2007, $2.2 trillion was spent on healthcare in the US, with $1.7 trillion spent to prevent and treat chronic illnesses. Eventhough chronic diseases affect minority communities disproportionately, many individuals lack the ability to effectively treat and monitor their health due to geographic, financial, cultural and linguistic barriers. Considering these facts, mHealth is our answer to breaking down these barriers.

Read more at Politic365.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies applauds a new report released yesterday by Community Catalyst on the practice patterns of dental therapists, who are mid-level providers of oral health care.  The report, entitled The Economic Viability of Dental Therapists, is the first assessment of how mid-level dental providers, specifically dental therapists, are practicing in the United States.  

Oral health care disparities are some of the deepest and most persistent health disparities in the United States.  People who have low incomes, children, racial and ethnic minorities, older adults and residents of rural communities face an array of barriers to accessing routine and preventive dental care. Yet dental disease is the number one chronic illness affecting children, and is more common than asthma. Seventy-two percent of American Indian and Alaska Native children aged six to eight have untreated cavities—more than twice the rate of the general population.  Thirty-seven percent of non-Hispanic black children and 41 percent of Hispanic children have untreated tooth decay, compared with 25 percent of white children.

The Economic Viability report assesses dental therapists practicing in Alaska and Minnesota, and finds that they have effectively expanded access to routine and preventive oral health care for low-income adults, children, and people living in tribal communities. The report finds that 85 percent of the care dental therapists provide is routine and preventive, and that dental therapists cost their employers less than 30 cents for every dollar of revenue they generate.

“The report comes at a time when more than a dozen states are exploring using mid-level dental providers as a way to greatly expand access to dental care,” said Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D., Vice President and Director of the Joint Center’s Health Policy Institute. “Eight states have put forward legislation seeking to authorize dental therapists. Several other states have called for studying the model further. Outside of the U.S., dental therapists have practiced successfully in more than 50 other countries for the better part of a century. We believe they are an important part of a comprehensive strategy to reduce and ultimately eliminate oral health care disparities.”
 

Download the entire press release 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 for Political and Economic Studies and the Cook County, IL, PLACE MATTERS team today released a report documenting how neighborhood social and economic conditions in Cook County shape racial and ethnic health inequities in the city.

The report, Place Matters for Health in Cook County:  Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All, finds that the location of a person’s residence is an important indicator of his or her health and health risks.  Additionally, because of persistent racial and class segregation in Cook County, where one lives is an especially important driver of the poorer health outcomes of the county’s non-white and low-income residents.
 

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 Cook County, IL, PLACE MATTERS team are very pleased to add to the existing knowledge base with this report, Place Matters for Health in Cook County: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All. 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 Cook County 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 helping remedy them.

The report is available for download below. English-language and Spanish-language versions of our executive summary are also available.

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.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will be taking part in a number of events associated with the 139th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Public Health Association (APHA) October 29—November 2, 2011, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC.  This year’s APHA meeting, with the theme, “Healthy Communities Promote Healthy Minds and Bodies,” takes place in the wake of the Joint Center Health Policy Institute’s PLACE MATTERS National Conference, held on September 7, 2011, which addressed the relationship between place and health as it relates to racial and ethnic health inequities. You are invited to stop by the Joint Center’s booth, take in one or more of several sessions where we will make presentations, and join us at a special reception.

Download the entire press release by clicking the link below.

Early in 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that obesity was rapidly moving to the top of the list of major causes of premature or preventable deaths. This fact is highlighted by statistics in this issue brief indicating that nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults can be classified as obese or overweight. People who are overweight or obese are at risk for any number of chronic conditions, including diabetes, stroke, heart disease, and hypertension. As is the case for many other adverse health conditions, African Americans and Latinos are much more likely than other Americans to be overweight or obese. There are steps that people can take, through weight loss and improved fitness, to reduce their chronic-disease risk. But the conditions in many low-income communities create barriers for residents who want to “do the right thing.” Streets may not be safe to walk or bike, and recreational facilities may be few and far between, making it difficult for residents to get the regular physical activity recommended by their health care providers. A paucity of grocery stores with healthy food options also prevents many families from pursuing low-fat or low-sodium diets. In addition, school cafeterias and vending machines, lacking nutritious food choices, can make it difficult for young people to avoid consuming excessive nutritionally empty calories. While individuals acting alone may not be able to overcome these barriers, as this brief explains, a community can take collective action to lower them. 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.

Available in PDF Format Only.

To download this publication, click the file icon below.