African Americans, American Indians and other racial and ethnic groups have higher morbidity and mortality rates than white Americans from virtually every disease.
We asked some leading thinkers in California to begin an online discussion about this issue, by considering the following questions:
How can federal health care reform address the societal determinants of health, such as poverty, safety, housing, schools, transportation and access to healthy food and safe parks?
Posts
We Can’t Treat Our Way Out of This
Unfortunately, medical care sucking up all the air in the room, leaving public health gasping for breath, is the rule, not the exception. The Obama administration could begin to redress this by appointing a specialist in preventive medicine and public health as surgeon general. That’s what we’re trained for, just as neurosurgeons are trained to address lesions of the central nervous system…
Health ≠ Health Care
The question for us is: Are we a civilized society? If we are, then we must solve the riddle of poor health and its linkage to race and place. The key to this riddle is health equity…