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Health Disparities: Resources and
Links
Below are links to some of the most relevant
and helpful resources available on health disparities.
Health Disparities and the Body Politic: Policy, Research,
Data, and Government Responsibility
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/disparities/book/index.html
During the Spring of 2005, the Harvard School of Public
Health hosted a three-part international symposium series to
explore the role that governments and engaged communities can
play in reducing and rectifying social inequities in health worldwide.
This site offers webcasts, articles, resources, and
the book, Health Disparities and the Body Politic from
the series.
Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic
Disparities in Health Care
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10260.html
Published by the Institute of Medicine in 2002, this report reviews more
than 100 studies on the extent and sources of disparities in the United
States. Among its many important findings are the following:
- Bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and clinical
uncertainty on the part of healthcare providers may contribute to racial
and ethnic disparities in healthcare.
-
While some studies suggest higher treatment refusal rates among racial
and ethnic minority patients than white patients, these differences in
refusal rates
are generally small and do not fully explain healthcare disparities.
Cancer Fact Sheets
http://iccnetwork.org/cancerfacts/
Available from the Intercultural Cancer Council, these fact sheets describe
the burden of cancer in specific populations, including African Americans,
American Indians and Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,
Hispanics, the rural poor, and the medically underserved. The fact sheets are
fully referenced and available as both HTML and PDF documents.
The Commonwealth Fund
http://www.cmwf.org
The Commonwealth Fund issues more than 50 authoritative reports each year on
insurance coverage, access to care, and quality of care. The reports are available
free and cover such relevant issues as cultural competence, the diversity of
the healthcare workforce, and the role of health plans in eliminating disparities.
Speaking of Health: Assessing Health Communication Strategies for Diverse
Populations http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10018.html?onpi_listserv071202
This Institute of Medicine report tackles many of the difficult issues surrounding
the use of communications interventions to reach diverse populations. For example,
the authors consider whether there is sufficient evidence for tailoring health
messages to different cultural groups, how new technologies will impact communications
interventions, and whether the communication process for diverse populations
should differ depending on the health outcome or behavior being addressed.
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
http://www.kff.org/minorityhealth
The Kaiser Family Foundation has dozens of reports, fact sheets, chart packs,
and survey results available on disparities in health care access and quality.
Examples include a compendium of cultural competence initiatives, a survey
of public perceptions around race/ ethnicity and medical care, and a summary
of reports on Latinos, media, and health.
NCI Strategic Plan and Budget to Reduce and Ultimately Eliminate
Health Disparities
http://crchd.nci.nih.gov/pdf/Strategic_Plan_and_Budget.pdf
This four-year strategic plan outlines the steps that the National Cancer
Institute plans to take to help identify and reduce health disparities in
the United States. The plan emphasizes three key components: research; research
infrastructure; and public information, outreach, and education.
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