CDC Report Documents Important Health Disparities, Need for Better Data
Highlights progress and challenges in achieving health equity
Americans' differences in income, race/ethnicity, gender and other social attributes make a difference in how likely they are to be healthy, sick, or die prematurely, according to a report by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
For instance, state-level estimates in 2007 indicate that low income residents report five to 11 fewer healthy days per month than do high income residents, the report says. It also says men are nearly four times more likely than women to commit suicide, that adolescent birth rates for Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks are three and 2.5 times respectively those of whites, and that the prevalence of binge drinking is higher in people with higher incomes.
The data are in the new "CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2011". The report also underscores the need for more consistent, nationally representative data on disability status and sexual orientation.
"Better information about the health status of different groups is essential to improve health. This first of its kind analysis and reporting of recent trends is designed to spur action and accountability at the federal, tribal, state and local levels to achieve health equity in this country," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
The report, the first of a series of consolidated assessments, highlights health disparities by sex, race and ethnicity, income, education, disability status and other social characteristics. Substantial progress in improving health for most U.S. residents has been made in recent years, yet persistent disparities continue.
For instance, state-level estimates in 2007 indicate that low income residents report five to 11 fewer healthy days per month than do high income residents, the report says. It also says men are nearly four times more likely than women to commit suicide, that adolescent birth rates for Hispanics and non-Hispanic blacks are three and 2.5 times respectively those of whites, and that the prevalence of binge drinking is higher in people with higher incomes.
The data are in the new "CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2011". The report also underscores the need for more consistent, nationally representative data on disability status and sexual orientation.
"Better information about the health status of different groups is essential to improve health. This first of its kind analysis and reporting of recent trends is designed to spur action and accountability at the federal, tribal, state and local levels to achieve health equity in this country," said CDC Director Thomas R. Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.
The report, the first of a series of consolidated assessments, highlights health disparities by sex, race and ethnicity, income, education, disability status and other social characteristics. Substantial progress in improving health for most U.S. residents has been made in recent years, yet persistent disparities continue.
As described in the CDC report, similar conclusions can be drawn about the health disparities among Australians- but at least we have fairly good universal health care here. As an almost-MPH I would like to see public health professionals (not necessarily the medical practitioners) go into the community and ask how they would like to RECEIVE their health care. From on high, people decide how to implement what sounds like a great socially equalising policy, but deliver it in a way that totally over-rides consideration of lower income-earners. For instance, in Australia there is a program where complex dental treatment can be incorporated into a Health Care Plan by your doctor and dentist- sounds great, since dental care is normally very expensive and totally neglected by the poor. However, rich people wise to the scheme have used up the money and others are being denied care (eg. me, with no independent income or benefit)because the doctors say their state or regional allocation has been used up! If the public had been able to say how we wanted this plan executed, we could have prevented this travesty from occurring! I love crunching publicly available data to show trends and evidence for policies or change, but there are no jobs in it here, so health equity is a long way off. At least CDC is a good platform for keeping the realities in public and political consciousness.
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