Abstract
A concise overview of what is meant by the terms, “health disparities” and “health inequities” is offered as a basis for understanding the need for successful public health advocacy. Recent statistics illustrate the health disparities and provide a deeper understanding for why such knowledge is important for both the public at large and for public health practitioners. Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, provides “Notes from the Field” with advice on public health, politics, coalition building, and advocacy.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Braveman, P., Kumanyika, S., Fielding, J., LaVeist, T., Borrell, L., Manderscheid, R., & Troutman, A. (2011). Health disparities and health equity: The issue is justice. American Journal of Public Health, 101(S1), S149–S155.
Budrys, G. (2017). Unequal health: How inequality contributes to health or illness. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Carter-Pokras, O., & Baquet, C. (2002). What is a health disparity?. Public Health Reports. (Washington, DC: 1974), 117(5), 426–434.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). National center for chronic disease prevention and health promotion. 2017 National diabetes statistics report: Estimates of diabetes and its burden in the United States; https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pdfs/data/statistics/national-diabetes-statistics-report.pdf.
Creanga, A. A., Syverson, C., Seed, K., & Callaghan, W. M. (2017). Pregnancy-related mortality in the United States, 2011–2013. Obstetrics and Gynecology, 130(2), 366–373.
Department of Health and Human Services (US). (2010, December). Healthy people 2020: Framework. Washington, DC: DHHS.
Health Resources and Services Administration. (2018). Office of health equity. In Health equity report 2017. Rockville: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Herbst, J. H., Painter, T. M., Tomlinson, H. L., & Alvarez, M. E. (2014). Evidence-based HIV/STD prevention intervention for black men who have sex with men. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 63(1), 21–27.
Kochanek, K. D., Murphy, S. L., Xu, J. Q., & Tejada-Vera, B. (2016). Deaths: Final data for 2014. National Vital Statistics Reports, 65(4), 1–121.
Koh, H., Graham, G., & Gllied, S. (2011). Reducing racial and ethnic disparities: The action plan from the Department of Health and Human Services. Health Affairs, 30(10), 1822–1829.
Mack, K. (2013). Drug-induced deaths — United States, 1999–2010. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), 62(03), 161–163.
Mathews, T. J., & MacDorman, M. F. (2013). Infant mortality statistics from the 2009 Period linked birth/infant death data set. National Vital Statistics Reports, 61(8), 1–27. Hyattsville: National Centers for Health Statistics.
Mikati, I., Benson, A. F., Luben, T. J., Sacks, J. D., & Richmond-Bryant, J. (2018). Disparities in distribution of particulate matter emission sources by race and poverty status. American Journal of Public Health, 108(4), 480–485.
Murphy, S. L., Xu, J. Q., Kochanek, K. D., & Arias, E. (2018). Mortality in the United States, 2017. In NCHS data brief, no 328. Hyattsville: National Center for Health Statistics.
Pew Research Center. (2018, July). Income inequality in the U.S. Is rising most rapidly among Asians.
State Health Fact, Poverty Rate by Race/Ethnicity. (2016). Kaiser family foundation. https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/?currentTimeframe=0&selectedDistributions=black&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D.
Turner, A. (2018). The business case for racial equity: A strategy for growth. https://altarum.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-publication-files/WKKellogg_Business-Case-Racial-Equity_National-Report_2018.pdf.
US Census Bureau. (2016). The 2015 American community survey. https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/.
Whitehead, M. (1991). The concepts and principles of equity and health (Vol. 6, pp. 217–228). Copenhagen: WHO/EURO.
Williams, D., & Jackson, P. (2005). Social sources of racial disparities in health. Health Affairs, 24(2), 325–334.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chanyasulkit, C. (2020). Health Disparities: What Are “Health Disparities”? Why Do We Care? Should We Care?. In: Successful Public Health Advocacy. SpringerBriefs in Public Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30288-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30288-7_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-30286-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-30288-7
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)