Opinion OUR VIEW: Needed: Health care access and information
Saturday, July 18th
A new report by the Connecticut Citizen Action Group reinforces the need for changes in our health care system, as well as for greater education about lifestyle issues.
According to the report, titled “Unequal Lives: Health Care Discrimination Harms Communities of Color in Connecticut,” more than 103 million members of the nation’s minority populations suffer disproportionately because they do not have adequate health care.
The study notes that the infant mortality rate — often considered a gauge of a nation’s social responsibility — for African Americans is more than three times that of whites.
We don’t have to look far for a cause. The report says that 25 percent of Latina and African American women received no early prenatal care, compared with 9 percent of whites. Without early examination and — as important — early education for the mother-to-be, a newborn’s chances drop. For example, a study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine recently found that black women are more likely to have low birth weight babies, a condition linked to infant mortality.
The CCAG study also found that 18 percent of African Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, twice that of whites. Diabetes is, in part, a lifestyle disease, brought on by obesity and improper diet.
“The disparities here are easy to explain,” said David Katz, the founder of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Connecticut. “They’re associated with poverty, less education, areas where you can’t find fresh fruits and vegetables, and some cultural differences.”
That’s a tough combination to beat. Yes, improved access to health care is essential but so is education about wise lifestyle choices — and those choices must be affordable. A single orange costs as much as a burger from McDonald’s dollar menu.
Improvements in school lunch programs, nutrition classes and even the public service announcements that have become such an important part of children’s television can play an important role in improving the lives of the next generation.
The challenge today is how to reach the adults: better health care, yes, but also more information about how to achieve better health.
The New Britain Herald
ReplyDeleteOpinion
OUR VIEW: Needed: Health care access and information
Saturday, July 18th
A new report by the Connecticut Citizen Action Group reinforces the need for changes in our health care system, as well as for greater education about lifestyle issues.
According to the report, titled “Unequal Lives: Health Care Discrimination Harms Communities of Color in Connecticut,” more than 103 million members of the nation’s minority populations suffer disproportionately because they do not have adequate health care.
The study notes that the infant mortality rate — often considered a gauge of a nation’s social responsibility — for African Americans is more than three times that of whites.
We don’t have to look far for a cause. The report says that 25 percent of Latina and African American women received no early prenatal care, compared with 9 percent of whites. Without early examination and — as important — early education for the mother-to-be, a newborn’s chances drop. For example, a study by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine recently found that black women are more likely to have low birth weight babies, a condition linked to infant mortality.
The CCAG study also found that 18 percent of African Americans are diagnosed with diabetes, twice that of whites. Diabetes is, in part, a lifestyle disease, brought on by obesity and improper diet.
“The disparities here are easy to explain,” said David Katz, the founder of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center in New Haven, Connecticut. “They’re associated with poverty, less education, areas where you can’t find fresh fruits and vegetables, and some cultural differences.”
That’s a tough combination to beat. Yes, improved access to health care is essential but so is education about wise lifestyle choices — and those choices must be affordable. A single orange costs as much as a burger from McDonald’s dollar menu.
Improvements in school lunch programs, nutrition classes and even the public service announcements that have become such an important part of children’s television can play an important role in improving the lives of the next generation.
The challenge today is how to reach the adults: better health care, yes, but also more information about how to achieve better health.