Minority Health and Health Equity Archive
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Item What Do Schools of Public Health Have to Say About Diversity and Inclusion?(Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 2019-12-01) Merino, YesinaObjective. The purpose of this study was to understand how schools of public health (SPHs) define and operationalize diversity and inclusion. Methods. Data were collected in February 2017 from publicly available websites for each of the 59 Council on Education in Public Health–accredited SPHs, including mission/vision, goals/strategic plans, and diversity statements. Mentions of diversity were quantified to generate the proportion of SPHs that explicitly address diversity or inclusion. As a related secondary point, mentions of equity were also considered. Results. One third of SPHs do not mention diversity, inclusion, or equity as central tenets of the school. Twenty percent do not mention strategic plans or goals related to diversity, inclusion, or equity. Only 12 of the 59 schools define what they mean by diversity. Conclusions. Recently released Council on Education in Public Health accreditation competencies point to a need for increased attention by SPHs to inclusion and equity. Currently, however, most SPHs do not have a clear definition of how they define diversity. Implications. Additional research is needed into how SPHs will evolve their conceptualizations of diversity, inclusion, and equity to meet the training needs of the next generation of public health professionals.Item Measuring socioeconomic status/position in studies of racial/ethnic disparities: maternal and infant health.(2001) Braveman, P; Cubbin, C; Marchi, K; Egerter, S; Chavez, GOBJECTIVE: Theoretical and empiric considerations raise concerns about how socioeconomic status/position (abbreviated here as SES) is often measured in health research. The authors aimed to guide the use of two common socioeconomic indicators, education and income, in studies of racial/ethnic disparities in low birthweight, delayed prenatal care, unintended pregnancy, and breastfeeding intention. METHODS: Data from a statewide postpartum survey in California (N = 10,055) were linked to birth certificates. Overall and by race/ethnicity, the authors examined: (a) correlations among several measures of education and income; (b) associations between each SES measure and health indicator; and (c) racial/ethnic disparities in the health indicators "adjusting" for different SES measures. RESULTS: Education-income correlations were moderate and varied by race/ethnicity. Racial/ethnic associations with the health indicators varied by SES measure, how SES was specified, and by health indicator. CONCLUSIONS: Conclusions about the role of race/ethnicity could vary with how SES is measured. Education is not an acceptable proxy for income in studies of ethnically diverse populations of childbearing women. SES measures generally should be outcome- and population-specific, and chosen on explicit conceptual grounds; researchers should test multiple theoretically appropriate measures and consider how conclusions might vary with how SES is measured. Researchers should recognize the difficulty of measuring SES and interpret findings accordingly.Item Identifying health disparities across the tobacco continuum(2007) Fagan, Pebbles; Moolchan, Eric T.; Lawrence, Deirdre; Fernander, Anita; Ponder, Paris K.AIMS: Few frameworks have addressed work-force diversity, inequities and inequalities as part of a comprehensive approach to eliminating tobacco-related health disparities. This paper summarizes the literature and describes the known disparities that exist along the tobacco disease continuum for minority racial and ethnic groups, those living in poverty, those with low education and blue-collar and service workers. The paper also discusses how work-force diversity, inequities in research practice and knowledge allocation and inequalities in access to and quality of health care are fundamental to addressing disparities in health. METHODS: We examined the available scientific literature and existing public health reports to identify disparities across the tobacco disease continuum by minority racial/ethnic group, poverty status, education level and occupation. FINDINGS: Results indicate that differences in risk indicators along the tobacco disease continuum do not explain fully tobacco-related cancer consequences among some minority racial/ethnic groups, particularly among the aggregate groups, blacks/African Americans and American Indians/Alaska Natives. The lack of within-race/ethnic group data and its interactions with socio-economic factors across the life-span contribute to the inconsistency we observe in the disease causal paradigm. CONCLUSIONS: More comprehensive models are needed to understand the relationships among disparities, social context, diversity, inequalities and inequities. A systematic approach will also help researchers, practitioners, advocates and policy makers determine critical points for interventions, the types of studies and programs needed and integrative approaches needed to eliminate tobacco-related disparities.Item Poverty and obesity: the role of energy density and energy costs.(2004) Drewnowski, Adam; Specter, S EMany health disparities in the United States are linked to inequalities in education and income. This review focuses on the relation between obesity and diet quality, dietary energy density, and energy costs. Evidence is provided to support the following points. First, the highest rates of obesity occur among population groups with the highest poverty rates and the least education. Second, there is an inverse relation between energy density (MJ/kg) and energy cost (US dollars/MJ), such that energy-dense foods composed of refined grains, added sugars, or fats may represent the lowest-cost option to the consumer. Third, the high energy density and palatability of sweets and fats are associated with higher energy intakes, at least in clinical and laboratory studies. Fourth, poverty and food insecurity are associated with lower food expenditures, low fruit and vegetable consumption, and lower-quality diets. A reduction in diet costs in linear programming models leads to high-fat, energy-dense diets that are similar in composition to those consumed by low-income groups. Such diets are more affordable than are prudent diets based on lean meats, fish, fresh vegetables, and fruit. The association between poverty and obesity may be mediated, in part, by the low cost of energy-dense foods and may be reinforced by the high palatability of sugar and fat. This economic framework provides an explanation for the observed links between socioeconomic variables and obesity when taste, dietary energy density, and diet costs are used as intervening variables. More and more Americans are becoming overweight and obese while consuming more added sugars and fats and spending a lower percentage of their disposable income on food.Item Brazil: towards sustainability and equity in health(2011) Kleinert, Sabine; Horton, RichardWith a new government in place since January and a woman, Dilma Rousseff, at the helm, together with an economic growth rate of 7·5% last year and a newly discovered oil field off its coast, Brazil is a country in demand as a political and economic partner. Brazil now has an important and timely opportunity to cement its formidable health achievements towards its ultimate goal of universal, equitable, and sustainable health care to fulfil the right to health enshrined in its 1988 constitution. To highlight this opportunity, The Lancet is publishing a Series of six papers that critically examine what the country's policies have achieved and where future challenges might lie.Item Economic Team Announcement(2008) Obama, BarackGood morning. The news this past week, including this morning’s news about Citigroup, has made it even more clear that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions. Our financial markets are under stress. New home purchases in October were the lowest in half a century. Recently, more than half a million jobless claims were filed, the highest in eighteen years – and if we do not act swiftly and boldly, most experts now believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year. While we can’t underestimate the challenges we face, we also can’t underestimate our capacity to overcome them – to summon that spirit of determination and optimism that has always defined us, and move forward in a new direction to create new jobs, reform our financial system, and fuel long-term economic growth.Item Hurricane Katrina - Two Years Later: In Their Own Words (part 5)(2007) McAllister, DeuceOne of the most important things that would help New Orleans rebound is education. The education system in New Orleans, as in Louisiana as a whole, hasn't been great. But we have an opportunity to build a new one that ranks high, not only in the southeast, but in the entire United States.Item Practice Notes: Strategies in Health Education Program, “Full Service”: Talking About Fighting Prostate Cancer—in the Barber Shop!(2007) Browne, Mario; Lieberman, Lisa D.; Hager, BarbaraThe purpose of this project is to promote prostate cancer screening, education about disease risk and the importance of early detection, and survivorship among African American males who frequent African American–owned barber shops.Item America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well Being 2007(US Government Printing Office, 2007) UNSPECIFIEDThe Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics’ primary mission is to enhance and improve consistency in data collection and reporting on children and families. After a decade of publishing its report, the Forum presents this newly restructured 10th anniversary edition of America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2007 which provides the Nation with a summary of national indicators of child well-being and monitors changes in these indicators. In addition to providing data in an easy-to-use, non-technical format, the purpose of the report is to stimulate discussions among policymakers and the public, exchanges between data providers and policy communities, and improvements in Federal data on children and families.Item The State of Black California(2007) UNSPECIFIEDThe State of Black California reports on the social and economic status of Blacks in California and its major metropolitan areas including the Inland Empire, Los Angeles, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose. It examines how Black Californians fare in relation to whites and other major ethnic groups along, economic social and health related dimensions. The report uses an Equality Index, an objective tool to compare the degree to which blacks enjoy equal conditions relative to those of whites and other ethnic groups. The Equality Index was developed by Global Insight, Inc., a highly-regarded international consulting firm. The report was prepared for the California Legislative Black Caucus by Steven Raphael, Goldman School of Public Policy University of California, Berkeley and Michael A. Stoll, School of Public Affairs University of California, Los Angeles. The Equality Index provides a summary measure of overall wellbeing using a single index to represent performance on a number of economic, housing, health, education, criminal justice and civic engagement outcomes. Whites are used as the baseline group in calculating the Index, and they have a constant score of 1.00. A score of less than 1.00 means that the racial or ethnic group is faring poorly relative to whites, while a score of greater than 1.00 indicates that the racial or ethnic group is faring relatively better.