Battling Health Disparities -- A Call to Action

The healthcare system in America is in disarray. Forty-six million Americans are uninsured, many of these working Americans. Over the past five years, health insurance premiums for workers have increased by 73 percent, but wages have only grown by 15 percent.

Within this system, communities of colors and other vulnerable populations are some of the biggest losers. Access to quality health care services is particularly difficult for these communities -- especially the 42 million Latinos living in the United States. Diseases like diabetes, obesity, asthma and cancer are registering in the Latino community at two to three times that of non-Latino communities. Mexican-Americans are twice as likely to have diabetes and six times more likely to suffer from complications such as kidney failure. Although Latinos only represent 14 percent of the U.S. population, they represent one-fifth of all people living with AIDS. Latina women account for more than 23 percent of all new HIV infections. More than 70 percent of African Americans and Latinos live in counties that violate federal air pollution standards, compared to 58% of whites, leading to higher rates of asthma and mortality.

Yet, the current health care system is failing these communities. Whole neighborhoods lack access to any care at all. Others receive care which is culturally and linguistically inappropriate -- leading to preventable medical errors, patient-doctor mistrust, and inappropriate and inadequate treatment.

Policymakers lack data needed to develop appropriate policies because of significant research gaps, and promotoras, or community health workers who are often the front line of outreach and prevention for communities of color, lack necessary federal support.

For the first time in history, a generation of children may not live as long as their parents. On Friday July 7, local, state and federal experts and policymakers will meet in Los Angeles to renew the call to action as part of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force Regional Health Forum: Empowering Local Communities, Informing National Policymakers: A New Agenda to Address Health Disparities. The battle against health disparities -- the battle to end the epidemics -- is a battle that together we must win. I urge you to join the fight.