Heckler, Margaret M.In January 1984--ten months after becoming Secretary of Health and Human Services--I sent Health, United States, 1983 to the Congress. It was the annual report card on the health status of the American people. That report--like its predecessors--documented significant progress: Americans were living longer, infant mortality had continued to decline--the overall American health picture showed almost uniform improvement. But, and that "but" signaled a sad and significant fact; there was a continuing disparity in the burden of death and illness experienced by Blacks and other minority Americans as compared with our nation's population as a wholeDisparitiesCardiovascular DiseaseDiabetesCancerAlcoholUS Department of Health and Human ServicesOffice of Minority HealthTechnical Report