Health Disparities News and Research

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Health disparities (also called healthcare inequality in some countries) refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and socioeconomic groups.

Human Genome Project may have made traditional race-based measurements of human differences obsolete

New and sophisticated methods for studying the relationship between human genetic differences, the environment, health and behavior, all made possible by the completion of the Human Genome Project, have made traditional race-based measurements of human differences obsolete

17 Jan 2005

Race appears to be a factor in how doctors communicate with their patients

Race appears to be a factor in how doctors communicate with their patients, according to a new study of primary care visits conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Medicine.

22 Dec 2004

20 new policies adopted by American Public Health Association

The American Public Health Association recently adopted 20 policies addressing a broad range of issues in public health from underage alcohol consumption and nutrition labeling in restaurants to the supply of flu vaccinations and threats to immigrants’ health care.

21 Dec 2004

African Americans more likely to carry genetic variants known to stimulate inflammatory response

Specific variants in genes that encode proteins regulating inflammation may hold a key to explaining a host of disease processes known to cause increased risk of illness and death among African Americans, according to a study from the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH).

1 Dec 2004

African American HIV patients treated by white doctors receive life-saving HIV medication later than those who have an African American doctor

"Does Racial Concordance Between HIV-Positive Patients and Their Physicians Affect the Time to Receipt of Protease Inhibitors?" is published in the November issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

4 Nov 2004

Pain, embarrassment, and lack of time, major reasons for women not electing breast cancer screening

While breast cancer screening in rural America remains underutilized, barriers to screening mammography in poor, rural areas are marked by significant racial disparities, according to a new study.

25 Oct 2004

New study on disparities in maternal and infant health

Eliminating health disparities between different racial/ethnic subgroups is a national priority. Even at the earliest stages of pregnancy, disparities in health are evident.

12 Oct 2004

Black women are three times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy

Black women are three times more likely than white women to die during pregnancy, and twice as many black babies as white babies die in infancy. Yet researchers know little about why pregnancy and infant health differ by race, despite massive efforts to address this persistent problem.

10 Oct 2004

Patients as well as doctors need to learn to become better communicators with each other

The failure to communicate effectively during medical visits can cause far worse damage than a mild case of frustration, studies show.

23 Sep 2004

Latinos living in the United States have high rates of eye disease and visual impairment

Researchers found that Latinos had high rates of diabetic retinopathy, an eye complication of diabetes; and open-angle glaucoma, a disease that damages the optic nerve.

9 Aug 2004

New initiative aimed at reducing the excessively high rates of stroke

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has announced approximately $2 million in grant awards to support a new initiative aimed at reducing the excessively high rates of stroke, stroke disabilities and stroke deaths that disproportionately occur in the southeastern region of the United States.

5 Aug 2004

Physicians treating blacks more often reported that they lacked sufficient access to major health care resources

If you are a black Medicare patient in the United States, you are more likely than a white Medicare patient to be treated by a primary care physician who reports being unable to provide consistently high-quality medical care to all patients.

5 Aug 2004

New initiative to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality

HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced last night during a visit to Navajo Country $4.25 million to support a new initiative to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in infant mortality.

21 Jul 2004

Tobacco, obesity, HIV/AIDS and immigrant health addressed by members of congress

Members of Congress, public health experts, community leaders and citizens of South Florida convened today to address racial and ethnic health disparities in the areas of tobacco, obesity, immigrant health and HIV/AIDS.

11 Jul 2004

First recipients of the Fogarty-Ellison Fellowship in Global Health and Clinical Research

The Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces the first recipients of the Fogarty-Ellison Fellowship in Global Health and Clinical Research.

11 Jul 2004

Valid, robust, easy to construct, and easy to interpret measure that could be used by any state health department for any health outcome

Five years in the making and available at no charge, the Public Health Disparities Geocoding Project Monograph gives officials and researchers for the first time a systematic way to monitor health disparities across a wide range of outcomes using basic socioeconomic information.

7 Jul 2004

The American Medical Association has moved forward in its fight against obesity

The American Medical Association (AMA) moved forward in its fight against obesity, adopting several new policies to help combat the nation's growing problem with obesity and unhealthy eating. The policies address a number of issues, including the role of racial and ethnic disparities in obesity.

16 Jun 2004

Eye drops may prevent the onset of glaucoma in African Americans

Eye drops that reduce elevated pressure inside the eye can delay or possibly prevent the onset of glaucoma in African Americans at higher risk for developing the disease, researchers have found.

14 Jun 2004

Minority women are disproportionately impacted by the autoimmune disease lupus

There is an urgent need for more education and research to address the fact that minority women are disproportionately impacted by the autoimmune disease lupus

14 May 2004

Californian Chinese community health summit

NICOS Chinese Health Coalition, a public-private-community partnership of more than 30 health and human service organizations and concerned individuals, invites you and your colleagues to participate in the Chinese Community Health Summit on Wednesday, May 26, 2004.

5 May 2004