The numbers are stark. African-American males between the ages of 25 and 44 are twice as likely to die than their white counterparts. African-American newborns are twice as likely not to survive. Diabetes is one-third more common in African Americans than whites.

These statistics are put in sociocultural, medical, and public health contexts in An American Health Dilemma: Race, Medicine, and Health Care in the United States, 1900-2000, the second volume of a two-volume set written by W. Michael Byrd and Linda Clayton in the Division of Public Health Practice.

Routledge is the publisher.

In 2000, Byrd and Clayton released their first volume about the effects of medical practices on vulnerable populations dating as far back as 300 BC up to 1900.

The second volume reports on continuing health disparities between African Americans and other groups and whites throughout the last century, describing pitfalls, such as dramatic cuts to health programs under President Ronald Reagan, and gains, such as desegregation following the Civil Rights Movement.

Byrd and Clayton indicate that a multidisciplinary approach is needed to eliminate health disparities and that ending bias based on race, class, ethnicity, culture, gender and age will have a positive impact on American health.