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October 2007
In this Issue:
New Resources
NEW MEDIA
PUBLICATIONS:
Activities in the Field
Metro Washington Public Health Association’s Advocacy and Health Disparities Committee
Policy Updates
Children's Health Coverage
Reflections from the Field
Pay for Performance and Its Impact on the African American Community
Upcoming Events
News Media
• The National Center for Health Behavioral Change sponsored the Health and Civil Rights Symposium: Strategies for Solutions at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland. This forum brought together leaders from the NAACP, health coalitions, health policy organizations, and the civil rights field to discuss the intersection between health and civil rights. To learn more, see the symposium webcast.
• The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute sponsored a panel discussion titled Salud Para Todos: Expanding Access to Health Care. The panel examined the impact of health care expansion efforts on Latino populations. For more information, see the webcast.
• The National Health Policy Training Alliance for Communities of Color features a list of Presidential candidate forums. These debates and forums address the concerns of communities of color, such as education, health care, and the criminal justice system. To learn more, view the forums.
Publications
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report, HIV/AIDS Among Hispanics—United States, 2001-2005, which shows that HIV-positive Hispanics living in the U.S. contract the virus through various transmission routes that are dependent on where they were born. It also demonstrates that HIV diagnoses declined by 4.7 percent in Hispanic men and 13 percent in Hispanic women from 2001-2004.
• The Journal for Health Care Quality has published a new article, Assumed Equity: Early Observations from the First Hospital Disparities Collaborative. This article describes early findings from the planning phase of Expecting Success, a hospital-based collaborative project focused on reducing disparities in health care.
• The Black AIDS Institute has released a new study, We're the Ones We've Been Waiting For: The State of AIDS in Black America ... and What We're Doing about It, that assesses the impact of AIDS on the African-American community. The report offers statistical data on HIV and AIDS prevalence in the U.S., describes the current state of AIDS mobilization, and issues a call to action.
• The Office of the New York City Comptroller released a policy report, Health and Wealth: Assessing and Addressing Income Disparities in the Health of New Yorkers. The report analyzes data from 1990-2005 that focuses on the continuing increase of the health disparities gap in New York City.
• The Synthesis Project at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issued their new report, Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to and Quality of Health Care. This report, authored by Dr. José Escarce, identifies the causes behind racial and ethnic disparities in health care access and quality. One of the key findings shows that Spanish-speaking Hispanics are most likely to lack access to health care when compared to other ethnic groups.
• The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies recently published a series of reports on the prevalence of infant mortality among blacks. These three reports, Race, Stress, and Social Support: Addressing the Crisis in Black Infant Mortality, Maternal Nutrition and Infant Mortality in the Context of Relationality, and Inequality Matters: Infant Mortality in the Global Village offer background statistics and analysis of the racial disparities associated with the high infant mortality rate in black women. The reports also offer recommendations for changes in public policy that can positively affect maternal and child health.
Metro Washington Public Health Association’s Advocacy and Health Disparities Committee
The Metro Washington Public Health Association (MWPHA), a local affiliate of the American Public Health Association (APHA), is working toward the elimination of health disparities through their own advocacy work and through that of the Health Disparities Committee. The committee started in 2002 after members of the governing council began meeting to address health disparities in the D.C. metropolitan area. One year later, this group set out to decrease health inequality in the nation’s capital by addressing the social determinants of health, such as poverty, housing, and unemployment. In the early years, the committee did this by writing position papers, participating in local health fairs, and collaborating with D.C. advocacy groups, such as Jobs for Justice and the Latino Health Initiative, to address health and social problems important to the community.
However, they soon learned that they needed to better focus their time and efforts. "With all of these activities, we felt that our efforts were too dispersed and not focused enough on demands," said Karyn Pomerantz, chair of the Advocacy and Health Disparities Committee. In response, the committee decided to focus on an issue that singularly demonstrated all aspects of health inequality: the alarming HIV/AIDS rate in D.C. Using a 2005 report, HIV/AIDS in the Nation's Capital: Improving the District of Columbia's Response to a Public Health Crisis, as a framework, the committee developed a work plan and concentrated their efforts on combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic. To date, activities include distributing condoms and information about HIV/AIDS to local schools and community centers, sponsoring free HIV testing, supporting needle exchange programs in low-income neighborhoods, and partnering with several local organizations such as Metro Teen AIDS and DC Fights Back. The committee has even designed an interactive exercise, Bernard’s Story, which details the life story of a young man who develops HIV, facilitates a discussion of his social environment and contributors to his disease, and identifies possible solutions.
In concert with the APHA meeting being held in Washington, D.C. on November 3-7, 2007, MWPHA will co-sponsor a community speak-out and neighborhood march with the organization DC Fights Back on November 3 to increase awareness and decrease the associated stigma of HIV/AIDS. The speak-out will provide testimonies from the community and will develop a consensus on what steps should be taken to eliminate HIV/AIDS in D.C.
If you have questions or would like to participate in the Advocacy and Health Disparities Committee’s activities, contact Karyn Pomerantz at kpomeran@gwu.edu, or Tarsha McCrae at mccraet@mail.nih.gov.
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Children’s Health Coverage
Last week, the House of Representatives voted to override President Bush's veto of the popular CHIP program and it fell just shy of the 2/3 majority needed to override the veto. To see how your Representative voted, click here. Advocate efforts will continue until we secure a victory for children and provide health care coverage for 10 million children. Immediately after Bush's October 3rd veto, Families USA launched a video and Web site with information on members’ votes and details on how to take action. Other advocacy groups have run and will continue to run television and radio advertisements targeting key House members encouraging them to vote in favor of children’s health care. The issue has been contentious, with debates happening on numerous talk shows, Internet blogs, and newspaper editorials. Polling consistently demonstrates that Americans are strongly in favor of legislation that expands children's coverage.
CHIP has been described as one of the most efficient and successful health care investments ever made by the government. Since the start of the CHIP program in 1997, the number of uninsured children has fallen by 2 million. This decline was especially significant for children of color. In 1998, 30 percent of Latino children, 20 percent of African-American children, and 18 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander children were uninsured. By 2004, the numbers dropped to 21 percent, 12 percent, and 8 percent, respectively. Expanding this vital program not only ensures that 10 million children have access to health care, but it also makes great strides toward reducing racial and ethnic health disparities among children.
Byron Sogie-Thomas, Health Policy Analyst at the National Medical Association, discusses what "pay for performance" means for the African American community and the physicians who treat them. Read more...
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- Bridging Cultures, Taking Action conference, October 26-28, 2007, Serrano Hotel, 405 Taylor St., San Francisco, CA
Host: Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association
For more information and to register: http://www.apamsa.org/2007conference/welcome.html
- Partners to Achieve Racial Equality annual meeting, October 31- November 3, 2007, Alexandria Mark Hilton Center, 5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA
Sponsor: Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE)
For more information and to register: http://www.sophe.org
- Building Community, Growing Our Voice summit, November 2-3, 2007, Human Rights Campaign Building, 1640 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Sponsor: Asian American Justice Center (AAJC)
For more information and to register: http://www.advancingequality.org/?id=250
- Politics, Policy, & Public Health annual meeting and exposition, November 3-7, 2007, Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, DC
Sponsor: American Public Health Association (APHA)
For more information and to register: http://www.apha.org/meetings/
- Breakthroughs in Reducing Health Disparities conference, November 12-13, 2007, Capital Hilton, 1001 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC
Sponsor: National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
For more information and to register: www.ncqa.org
- Beyond Health Insurance: Public Policy to Improve Health conference, November 15-16, 2007, Moss Auditorium, College of Medicine Research Building, 209 S. Wolcott, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Sponsor: Institute of Government Affairs and the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois
For more information: Contact Sue Sindelar at sindelar@uillinois.edu or call 312-996-6188.
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We’d like to hear from you!
If you would like to see your organization or event highlighted in a future edition of our newsletter, please send us a brief description of your organization and its activities, as well as your contact information. We also welcome guest authors for the Activities in the Field section of the newsletter. This section provides members of the minority health field with the opportunity to share their experiences and insights with other advocates. Please send all correspondence to: minorityhealth@familiesusa.org.
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