Racial and Ethnic Disparities
in Health
Knowledge Path
Knowledge Path Table of Contents
- Overview
- Websites
- Additional Electronic Publications
- Databases: Data, Literature and Research, and Programs
- Electronic Newsletters
Special Topic: Cultural and Linguistic Competence
Please provide feedback on this knowledge path.
This knowledge path has been compiled by the MCH Library at Georgetown University. It offers a selection of current, high-quality resources about preventing, identifying, and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health. Separate sections present resources for professionals (health professionals, program administrators, policymakers, researchers) and families. A special topics area lists resources about cultural and linguistic competence to remove barriers to care and narrow health disparities. The knowledge path will be updated periodically.
See the Commonwealth Fund publication, Racial and ethnic disparities in U.S. health care: A chartbook (2008). This chartbook, which is intended for policymakers, teachers, researchers, and health professionals, aims to help users understand disparities in their communities and formulate solutions. Topics include demographics, disparities in health status and mortality, disparities in access to health care, disparities in coverage, disparities in quality, and strategies for closing the gap. A webinar accompanied the chartbook's release.
- Advocates
For Youth: Youth of Color. Presents information
about the disproportionate rates of HIV, sexually transmitted
infections, and pregnancy among adolescents from racial and ethnic
minority groups and resources to plan and implement culturally
appropriate interventions to meet their needs. Advocates for Youth aims to help adolescents and young adults
make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive
and sexual health.
- Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Minority Health.
Describes AHRQ's efforts to identify and understand how inequities
in health care contribute to racial and ethnic disparities in
health and how disparities can be eliminated. Includes links
to AHRQ-funded centers, research programs, and support networks
that focus on racial and ethnic disparities in health. Also links
to conference and meeting information, workshop summaries, evidence
reports, speeches and testimony, and research findings. Presents
data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization
Project (HCUP), Medical Expenditure Panel
Survey (MEPS), and National Quality Measures
Clearinghouse™
(NQMC). Resources include
National healthcare disparities report. (2003-). This annual report provides an overview of disparities in quality of and access to health care among racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in the United States and tracks the nation's progress toward reducing disparities. A chapter focuses on health care disparities within specific priority populations that include women, children and adolescents, and individuals with special health care needs. The NHQRDRnet is an interactive tool for exploring data from the reports. State snapshots provide state-specific information from the 2009 report.
Also see AHRQ's resource, Health Literacy and Cultural Competency.
- American
Medical Association (AMA): Eliminating Health Disparities.
Offers program information, online courses, and other resources
for health professionals aimed at the elimination of racial and
ethnic disparities in health.
- American
Public Health Association (APHA): Eliminating Health Disparities. An issue brief, fact sheet, and policy statements about disparities in health status and health care access.
- Census
Bureau: Minority Links. Links to reports and news releases
containing data on racial and ethnic populations in the United
States. Includes social and economic characteristics for Black
or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian, Native Hawaiian
and other Pacific Islander, and American Indian and Alaska Native
populations. Health topics include disability, fertility, and
health insurance. Also see the Bureau's resource about the U.S.
foreign-born population, which presents profiles containing
detailed demographic, social, economic, and housing information
about the total, native, and foreign-born populations of the
United States.
- Center
for Health Care Strategies (CHCS): Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.
Describes promising approaches and presents tools that states
and health plans can use to address disparities as well as improve
quality of care. Includes strategies to more effectively collect
and use primary race and ethnicity data to close gaps in health
care quality. CHCS provides training and technical assistance
to improve the quality of publicly financed health care in the
United States.
- Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC). Offers programs and initiatives about
racial and ethnic disparities in health that include
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). This series of publications contains articles and data about infectious and chronic diseases, environmental hazards, natural or human-generated disasters, occupational diseases and injuries, intentional and unintentional injuries, and other topics of interest to the public health community. Search for articles about racial and ethnic disparities in health or about specific population groups.
National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Contains vital and health statistics about racial and ethnic groups. Resources include
- Faststats
A to Z. Browse the alphabetical list of topics to find
statistical fact sheets about the health of racial and ethnic
groups.
- Health, United States.
This annual report on trends in health statistics includes information
about racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in health.
- National Vital
Statistics System (NVSS). Tracks births, deaths, marriages,
divorces, and fetal deaths by race and ethnic group. NVSS produces
the linked birth/infant death data set.
National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP): Office of Health Disparities (OHD). Provides information about initiatives to address disparities in HIV and AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis cases for racial and ethnic minority groups.
Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH 2010). Includes program information about community-based programs and culturally appropriate interventions to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities in six priority areas: asthma, breast and cervical cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, hepatitis B, and infant mortality.
- Faststats
A to Z. Browse the alphabetical list of topics to find
statistical fact sheets about the health of racial and ethnic
groups.
- Commonwealth
Fund: Health Care Disparities. Publications, innovations, surveys and data, and fellowships about improving
the overall quality of health care delivered to low-income and
minority Americans and eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities.
The Commonwealth Fund is a private foundation supporting independent
research on health care issues to promote a high-performing
health care system for all Americans.
- Community Voices:
Health Care for the Underserved. Contains program descriptions,
articles, and policy briefs about community efforts to improve
access to and the quality of health care for underserved populations
in the United States. Community Voices is an initiative of the
W. K. Kellogg Foundation.
- Factline:
Tracking Health in Underserved Communities. Presents
information about health disparities faced by women, members
of minority groups, the elderly, and others. Includes bibliographic
references to the literature in which each finding is established.
The framework for the research is Healthy People
2010. Factline is a project of the Journal of HealthCare
for the Poor and Underserved, and it is sponsored by the National
Library of Medicine (NLM) and Meharry
Medical College. Factline is also available in Spanish.
- Families
USA: Health Equity. Presents resources including an electronic
newsletter about minority health and racial and ethnic health
disparities with a focus on disparities in health insurance and
access to care. Families USA advocates at the national, state,
and local levels for high-quality, affordable health care for
all Americans.
- Healthy
People 2020. Information about this national health-promotion
and disease-prevention initiative of the Department
of Health and Human Services. One of the overarching goals
of the initiative is to achieve health equity, eliminate disparities,
and improve the health of all groups. A tool on the home page
of the website allows users to compare the top 10 causes of
death by race/ethnicity and age range.
- Kaiser
Family Foundation (KFF): Minority Health. Contains policy
research and analysis, program information, state-level
data, webcasts, an electronic newsletter,
and other resources about minority health and efforts to reduce
racial and ethnic disparities in health care access and quality.
KFF is an independent philanthropy focusing on national health
care issues.
- Medical
Education Futures Study (MEFS). Presents
policy briefs, research, reports, legislation, news summaries,
and a newsletter about the need to create
a more ethnically and racially diverse physician work force,
to train physicians for primary care, and to ensure a more equitable
geographic distribution of physicians during the current period
of medical school expansion. MEFS is an initiative of the George
Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.
- Minority Health Project
to Eliminate Health Disparities (MHP). Contains webcasts,
conference materials, reports, news, and other resources concerning
minority health and disparities in health. MHP is part of the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Program
for Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO).
- National
Alliance for Hispanic Health. Provides legislative and
program information and publications about health issues important
to the Hispanic community. Offers toll-free
health helplines to help individuals and families find culturally
and linguistically proficient health information and referrals
to local services. The alliance is a network of health and human
service providers for over 15 million Hispanic consumers throughout
the United States.
- National Center on Minority
Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD). Includes grant
and program information, press releases, conference information,
congressional testimony, and the National Institutes of Health
strategic plan and budget to address disparities in health. NCMHD
is part of the National Institutes
of Health (NIH).
- National
Council of La Raza (NCLR): Institute for Hispanic Health.
Offers legislative news, reports, and background materials about
eliminating or reducing barriers that prevent Latino families
from accessing health care and receiving high-quality care. NCLR
is the largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization
in the United States.
- National
Health Law Program (NHeLP): Health Disparities. Presents
a collection of resources about health disparities and health
care as a human right. Also see NHeLP's resource collection about language
access in health care. NHeLP is a national public-interest
law firm that aims to improve health care for families with low
incomes, minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
- National Medical Association:
W. Montague Cobb/NMA Health Institute. Describes
its work to develop, evaluate, and implement strategies to promote
wellness and eliminate health disparities for African Americans
and other underserved populations. Resources address HIV/AIDS,
asthma, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and heart disease, and
obesity.
- National
Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health (NNED).
Describes efforts to address disparities in behavioral health
care and presents information about meetings, funding opportunities,
and resources. NNED is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration in partnership with the National
Alliance of Multi-ethnic Behavioral Health Associations.
- Office
of Minority Health (OMH). Links to program and conference
information, data, profiles of minority population groups, and
publications about public health issues affecting African Americans,
American Indians and Alaska Natives, Asian Americans, Hispanic
Americans, and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders.
Issues include racial and ethnic disparities in health and cultural
competence. Some resources are available in Spanish. OMH
is part of the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS). Recent resources and initiatives
include
A Healthy Baby Begins with You. Presents information about this national print and radio campaign to raise awareness about infant mortality with an emphasis on the African-American community. Includes campaign materials and infant mortality disparities fact sheets. Also presents information about another phase of the campaign, the Preconception Peer Educators (PPE) Program, which is designed to educate the college-age population about preconception health and care and to train them to serve as ambassadors for their peers who are not attending college.
National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities for Ethnic and Racial Minority Populations (NPA). Presents program and meeting information about this partnership among organizations from all sectors that focuses on improving health status and health outcomes among racial and ethnic minority populations. Includes background information about health disparities, links to state health disparities plans, and information about promising practices to eliminate health disparities.
Strategic framework for improving racial and ethnic minority health and eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities. (2008).
- Pew
Hispanic Center. Presents reports, fact sheets, surveys,
and data sets that aim to illuminate Latino views on social matters
and public policy issues, improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic
population, and chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the entire
nation. Topics include demography, economics, education, health, identity,
immigration, labor, politics, and remittances. The center is
supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a private philanthropy
serving the public interest.
- Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF): Quality/Equality. Offers
research and program information, reports, toolkits, and news
summaries from RWJF and its grantees about reducing racial and
ethnic health care disparities. RWJF seeks to improve the health
and health care of all Americans via its grantmaking efforts.
- THRIVE:
The Tool For Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments.
Offers a tool to help communities identify and foster factors
in the community environment that will improve health outcomes
and reduce disparities experienced by racial and ethnic minorities.
THRIVE is presented by the Prevention
Institute.
Additional Electronic Publications
- American Lung Association.
2007. State
of lung disease in diverse communities. New York, NY: American
Lung Association. This report provides statistics, background material,
and useful information about important lung health issues such as
asthma, smoking, and air quality as they relate to racially and ethnically
diverse communities.
- Children's Defense Fund.
2006. Improving
children's health: Understanding children's health disparities and
promising approaches to address them. Washington, DC: Children's
Defense Fund. This report documents disparities in outcomes across
several major conditions affecting children, provides an analysis
of indicators related to children's health, and explores community
strategies that have been effective in reducing disparities in many
health-related conditions. The report also recommends policies and
initiatives to eliminate health disparities for children, focusing
on the role that prevention and expanded access to health care for
all children can play in improving health outcomes.
- Children's Defense Fund.
2008. Disparities
in children's health and health coverage. Washington, DC: Children's
Defense Fund. This fact sheet describes disparities in health and
health insurance coverage for infants, children, and adolescents
in minority groups from before birth into adulthood, compared to
their white counterparts.
- Cohen JA. 2008. Challenges
and successes in reducing health disparities: Workshop summary.
Washington, DC : National Academies
Press. This report summarizes a workshop convened by the Institute
of Medicine to increase the visibility of racial and ethnic health
disparities as a national problem. Workshop discussions focused
on the importance of differences in life expectancy within the
United States, the reasons for those differences, and the implications
of this information for programs and policymakers.
- Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. 2008. Closing
the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social
determinants of health. Geneva, Switzerland: World
Health Organization (WHO). This report describes the results
of a 3-year study that examined evidence on the social determinants
of health and what can be done to promote health equity globally.
The executive summary and background material are available in
several languages.
- Fox HB, McManus MA, Zarit M, Fairbrother G, Cassedy AE, Bethell
CD, Read D. 2007. Racial
and ethnic disparities in adolescent health and access to care.
Washington, DC: National
Alliance to Advance Adolescent Health. This fact sheet describes
disparities in health status and access to care among Hispanic, black,
and white adolescents ages 12-17. The fact sheet addresses racial
and ethnic disparities for a broad set of indicators and also examines
the impact of income, insurance, and mother's education on these
indicators. A second fact
sheet presents information about older adolescents ages 18-21.
- Fullilove RE. 2006. African
Americans, health disparities and HIVAIDS: Recommendations for
confronting the epidemic in Black America. Washington, DC: National
Minority AIDS Council. This report examines the underlying
causes of excess HIV-related morbidity and mortality among African
Americans and makes policy recommendations to alleviate the root
causes of the health disparities that devastate the African-American
community.
- Hasnain-Wynia R, Pierce D, Haque A, Hedges Greising
C, Prince V, Reiter J. 2007. HRET
disparities toolkit. Chicago, IL: Health
Research and Educational Trust (HRET), American
Hospital Association (AHA). This toolkit provides hospitals,
health systems, clinics, and health plans information and resources
for systematically collecting race, ethnicity, and primary-language
data from patients.
- Healthy States Initiative.
2007. Addressing
adolescent health disparities through school. Lexington, KY: Council
of State Governments. This policy brief for state legislators
identifies ways to assist local schools and school districts in addressing
racial and ethnic health disparities among adolescents.
- Hernandez DJ, Macartney SE. 2008. Racial-ethnic
inequality in child well-being from 1985-2004: Gaps narrowing,
but persist. New York, NY: Foundation
for Child Development (FCD). This report analyzes how child
and adolescent well-being has changed among black, Hispanic, and
white children from 1985 to 2004.
- Hughes D, Kreger M, Kushner K, Pirani H, Surie D. 2007. Reducing health disparities among children: Strategies and programs for
health plans. Washington, DC: National
Institute for Health Care Management Research and Educational Foundation.
This issue paper reviews what is known about health disparities
among children and describes health plans' innovative approaches
to reduce disparities and ensure cultural competence.
- Indian Health Service. 2006. Facts
on Indian health disparities. Rockville, MD: Indian
Health Service. This fact sheet presents health statistics
about the American Indian and Alaska Native population compared
to the entire population in the United States.
- Johnson K, Theberge S. 2007. Reducing
disparities beginning in early childhood. New York, NY: National
Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). This issue brief highlights
patterns of disparities in early childhood health risks, access
to services, and outcomes and provides recommendations for reducing
disparities in early childhood.
- Leigh WA, Huff D. 2006. Women
of color health data book: Adolescents to seniors, 3rd ed.
Bethesda, MD: Office of Research
on Women's Health (ORWH). This book about minority women's
health presents data about life expectancy, major causes of death,
behavior and lifestyles, risk factors, prenatal health care services,
access to health insurance and services, and morbidity and mortality.
The book concludes with recommendations to improve the health of
minority women.
- Maternal and
Child Health Bureau (MCHB). 1989-. Child
health USA 1989-. Rockville, MD: Maternal and Child Health
Bureau (MCHB). This annual book presents data about the health
status and health services utilization of infants, children, adolescents,
children with special health care needs, and women of childbearing
age and gives insight into the nation's progress toward ensuring
quality of care, eliminating barriers and health disparities, and
improving the health infrastructure and systems of care for this
population.
- Maternal and
Child Health Bureau (MCHB). 2002-. Women's
health USA 2000-. Rockville, MD: Maternal and Child Health
Bureau (MCHB). This annual data book includes information and data
on population characteristics, health status, and health services
utilization for women in the United States and highlights racial
and ethnic disparities and gender differences in women's health.
- Meng YY, Babey SH, Hastert TA, Brown ER. 2007. California's
racial and ethnic minorities more adversely affected by asthma.
Los Angeles, CA: UCLA
Center for Health Policy Research. This policy brief examines
the racial and ethnic disparities in the burden of asthma among
those with active asthma. The brief also examines disparities in
access to care and exposure to indoor environmental triggers that
may contribute to the asthma burden experienced by racial and ethnic
minorities.
- Moiduddin E, Massey DS. 2006. Segregation,
the concentration of poverty, and birth weight. Princeton,
NJ: Center for Research on
Child Wellbeing. This paper examines the relationship between
neighborhood conditions experienced by pregnant women of various
racial and ethnic groups and the weights of the infants they ultimately
deliver, controlling for individual and family characteristics.
- National Institutes of Health (NIH).
2008. NIH launches center
to study genomics and health disparities. Bethesda, MD: National
Institutes of Health (NIH). This press release announces the establishment
of the NIH Intramural Center for Genomics and Health Disparities
(NICGHD), a new venue for research about the way populations are
impacted by diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
- Perot RT, Davis RJ. 2007. From
awareness to action: Stakeholders’ strategies to eliminate
racial and ethnic health disparities. Washington, DC: Summit
Health Institute for Research and Educations, Inc. This report
describes the results of a survey of 20 organizational representatives
to determine what key stakeholders are doing to address racial
and ethnic health disparities, the extent to which interest in
and concern about these health gaps have been translated into action,
the lessons to be learned from their involvement and activities,
and ways to enhance awareness of racial and ethnic disparities
so that an increased commitment to action among a broader range
of stakeholders might result.
- Saha S, Shipman SA. 2006. Rationale
for diversity in the health professions: A review of the evidence.
Rockville, MD: Health Resources and
Services Administration (HRSA). This report examines the evidence
addressing the contention that health professions diversity will
lead to improved population health outcomes.
- Smedley BD, Stith AY, Nelson AR, eds. 2003. Unequal
treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health
care. Washington, DC: National
Academies Press. This landmark book examines how racial and
ethnic disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems
and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute
to such disparities. The book offers recommendations for improvements
in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of
language translation, community-based care, and other arenas.
- Urban Indian Health
Commission. 2007. Invisible
tribes: Urban Indians and their health in a changing world.
Washington, DC: Urban Indian Health Commission. This report examines
the health care issues facing urban American Indians and Alaska
Natives and the specific health topics of diabetes, depression,
and cardiovascular disease. The report recommends actions to address
the urban Indian health crisis.
The databases listed below are excellent tools for identifying data, additional literature and research, and programs addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health. Many of the entries below contain tips on how to use the databases efficiently. Please note that databases vary in how terms should be entered; for example, some require quotation marks and others don't. Enter search phrases as shown in bold below.
- ChildStats.gov.
Presents statistics and reports about children and families, including
population and family characteristics, economic security, health,
behavior and social environment, and education. Statistics are available
by racial and ethnic group. ChildStats.gov is a service of the Federal
Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.
- Child Trends DataBank.
Reports on national trends and research on over 100 key indicators
of child and adolescent well-being, including the racial
and ethnic composition of the child population. Health indicators
include a section presenting differences by race and ethnicity. Child
Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization providing
research and data to inform decision-making that affects children
and adolescents.
- Data
Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health (DRC).
Provides access to and use of data from the National Survey of
Children's Health, 2003, and the National Survey of Children
with Special Health Care Needs, 2001 & 2005/2006. Users can
search and compare results on over 100 indicators of child health
and well-being; view state and regional profiles on key measures;
explore survey content relevant to Healthy
People 2010 objectives; and compare findings at all levels
for children by age, race and ethnicity, income, or health status.
DRC is a project of the Child
and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative (CAHMI).
- diversitydata.org.
Identifies metropolitan area indicators of diversity, opportunity,
quality of life, and health for various racial and ethnic population
groups. Data are presented in profiles by metropolitan area or by
indicator in ranked lists or maps. diversitydata.org is an initiative
of the Harvard School of Public Health in conjunction with the Center
for the Advancement of Health.
- Healthcare
Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP): HCUPnet. Provides
access to health statistics and information on hospital inpatient
and emergency department utilization at the national and state
levels that researchers and policymakers can use to identify,
track, and analyze trends in health care utilization, access,
charges, quality, and outcomes. The data are used to describe
patterns of care for uncommon as well as common diseases, to
analyze hospital procedures, including those that are performed
infrequently, and to study the care of population groups such
as racial and ethnic groups, children, women, and the uninsured.
HCUP is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ).
- Health
Data for All Ages. Presents interactive online data
tables that provide health statistics for infants, children,
adolescents, adults, and older adults. Customize tables with
any or all of the following characteristics: age, gender, race
and ethnicity, and geographic location.This data warehouse is
a service of the National Center for Health Statistics
(NCHS).
- KIDS COUNT Data
Center. Contains state- and city-level data for over
100 measures of child well-being, including several indicators
that are broken down by race and ethnicity. Generate custom reports
for a geographic area or to compare areas on a topic. KIDS COUNT
is a project of the Annie E. Casey
Foundation (AECF).
- Linked
Birth/Infant Death Data Set. Contains data about infant
births/deaths for infants under age 1 occurring within the United
States to U.S. residents. Counts can be obtained by state, county,
infant's age, weight, cause of death, maternal race, maternal
age, maternal education, gestation period, prenatal care, live
birth order, and marital status. This data set is provided by
the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) via CDC
Wonder.
- Medical
Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). Contains data on
the cost and use of health care and health insurance coverage
in the United States. The race and ethnicity of individuals in
the MEPS are reported to support analyses of minority groups.
MEPS is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ).
- National
Quality Measures Clearinghouse™
(NQMC™). Contains evidence-based health care quality
measures and measure sets for physicians, hospitals, and health plans
to evaluate and improve the quality of health care for patients.
Type race OR racial OR "ethnic*" in the search box to identify
measures on the topic. The database is sponsored by the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
- PeriStats.
Provides access to maternal- and infant-health-related data at the
national, state, county, and city levels. Several indicators are
broken down by race and ethnicity. Over 60,000 graphs, maps, and
tables are available, and data are referenced to the relevant source
and Healthy People 2010 objective. PeriStats
is a service of the March
of Dimes Perinatal Data Center.
- Quick Health
Data Online. Offers comparative, county-level data on
the health status of women for all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, and U.S. territories and possessions. Data are available
by gender, race, and ethnicity in categories that include mortality,
natality, reproductive health, violence, prevention, disease,
and mental health. NWHID is a service of the Office
on Women's Health (OWH). Statistical reports include
Health disparities profiles. (2008).
- statehealthfacts.org:
Minority Health. Includes information about minority
health professionals and medical school enrollees and graduates,
in addition to data by race and ethnicity for population demographics,
insurance coverage, health status, and other topics. Information
is displayed as tables, graphs, or color-coded maps. This database
is a service of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
- Title
V Information System (Title V IS). Contains data from
annual Title V block grant applications and reports submitted
by all 59 U.S. states and jurisdictions. To learn about states'
efforts to address racial and ethnic disparities in maternal
and child health (MCH), conduct several searches. Under Program
Data, find the number of deliveries and infants served by Title
V and deliveries and infants eligible for Title XIX, by race
and Hispanic ethnicity. Also view Measurement and Indicator Data.
Scroll to the State Data section and conduct searches for particular
racial and ethnic groups under the State Priority Needs Keyword
Search, State Performance Measures, and State Outcome Measures
sections. Title V IS is a service of the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). Also see MCHB's Discretionary
Grant Information System (DGIS).
- Also see AHRQ's NHDRnet Online Query System,
the Census Bureau, Morbidity & Mortality
Weekly Reports (MMWR), the National Center for
Health Statistics (NCHS), the Office of Minority
Health, the Pew Hispanic Center, the Women
of color health data book (2006), Child health
USA (1989-), and Women's health USA (200-).
- ClinicalTrials.gov.
Provides access to information about clinical research studies for
a wide range of conditions. Included are a summary of the purpose
of the study, recruiting status, criteria for patient participation,
location of the trial, and contact information. To identify studies
that address racial and ethnic health disparities, click on Search
for Clinical Trials. Enter the search phrase (ethnic groups
OR minority groups) AND "health disparities" and
click on Search to get your results. ClinicalTrials.gov is a service
of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH) and is developed by the National Library
of Medicine (NLM).
- MCH Library at the National
Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH),
Georgetown University. Maintains several databases to collect,
manage, and disseminate knowledge about MCH, with special emphasis
on knowledge gained from initiatives and programs supported by
the Maternal and Child Health
Bureau (MCHB). The library's bibliographic database is
MCHLine®. Comprises an online catalog of materials in the MCH Library. See the bibliographies Racial and ethnic disparities in health and Culturally competent services for a selection of recent library items on these topics.
The MCH Library also offers a non-English materials and resources list that identifies items written in many non-English languages, from Albanian to Yoruba. Also see the resource brief, Culturally competent services; the knowledge path, Spanish-language health resources; and the library's organizations and programs databases.
- Minority Health
Archive. Comprises an online archive of print and
electronic media related to the health of minority racial and
ethnic groups in the United States. Materials include journal
articles, web-based materials, government documents, books, book
chapters, conference proceedings, conference papers, course outlines,
events/presentations, images, pre-prints, and theses/dissertations.
Search by subject or publication year. The archive was created
by the Center for Minority
Health and the University Library System at the University
of Pittsburgh.
- PubMed.
Contains over 20 million citations for biomedical articles from MEDLINE
and life science journals. Citations may include links to full-text
articles from PubMed Central or publisher websites. To identify
citations on the topic, enter the phrase (ethnic groups OR minority
groups OR minority health) AND (healthcare disparities OR health
status disparities) in the search box. Click on Limits and make
the following selections on the page: select a date (e.g. Published
in the last 2 years); click on Languages: English; and select Search
Field Tags: MeSH Major Topic. Click on Search to get your results.
To narrow your search further or for additional searches, use the MeSH
(Medical Subject Headings) database to identify terms (e.g., (ethnic
groups OR minority groups OR minority health) AND (healthcare disparities
OR health status disparities) AND asthma or (ethnic groups
OR minority groups OR minority health) AND (healthcare disparities
OR health status disparities) AND prejudice). PubMed is
a service of the National Library of Medicine (NLM).
- Discretionary
Grant Information System (DGIS). Contains financial,
national performance measure, and abstract information collected
annually from more than 900 grants issued by the Maternal
and Child Health Bureau (MCHB). To find information on grants
about racial and ethnic disparities in health, select Abstracts.
Enter racial disparities in the search box and
click on All the words. Select Search to get your results. Conduct
another search on the words, ethnic disparities;
click on All the words; and click on Search to get your results.
There will be some overlap between the search results. Also browse Performance
Measures and select those measures that address racial and
ethnic health disparities.
- Health
Services Research Projects in Progress (HSRProj). Provides
information about ongoing health services research and public
health projects. To identify projects on the topic, enter the
search phrase (ethnic groups OR minority groups OR minority
health) AND (healthcare disparities OR health status disparities).
Click on Search to get your results. HSRProj is funded by the National
Library of Medicine (NLM).
- MCH Library at the National
Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health (NCEMCH),
Georgetown University. Maintains two databases to identify organizations
and programs that focus on racial and ethnic disparities in health:
MCH Organizations Database. Lists over 2,000 government, professional, and voluntary organizations involved in MCH activities, primarily at a national level. See the list, Culturally competent services, for organizations that provide information on cultural competence, culturally competent services, and minority health. A list is also available for sources of foreign-language materials. For organizations that provide health information for specific minority groups, search the database by typing the name of the group (e.g., Asian Americans, Blacks, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders) in the keyword field of the database search form.
MCH Projects Database. Comprises an online catalog of projects funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) through October 1, 2004. MCHB funded several projects that address racial and ethnic disparities in health. To identify them, enter the term "minority groups" in the abstract field of the database search form and select Status: Active. Click on Search to get your results. Several final reports from these projects are available online. See MCHB's Discretionary Grant Information System (DGIS) for information on projects funded after October 1, 2004.
- National
Association of County and City Health Officials: Model Practice
Database. Contains information about model and promising
state and local public health program practices. Search by state
or health topic. For effective programs to address racial and
ethnic disparities in health, select Model
Practice Database and choose Find a model or promising practice
by category. Conduct two separate searches by choosing the categories,
Cultural Competence and Health Equity.
- TRAIN
(TrainingFinder Real-time Affiliate Integrated Network).
Presents a system to find and register for public health training
programs; track learning with personal online transcripts; and
access materials, course reviews, and discussions. To identify
training courses about racial and ethnic disparities in health,
select Course
Search. Scroll the list of subjects to highlight Minority
Health/Health Disparities. Click on Search to get your results.
TRAIN is a free service of the Public
Health Foundation (PHF).
- Health Equity Connection. This monthly newsletter
announces new resources in minority health, addresses how major
health policy issues affect communities of color, and presents
comments from leaders in the field of racial and ethnic health
disparities.
- Kaiser
Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look at Race, Ethnicity and
Health. This weekly electronic newsletter synthesizes
news coverage from hundreds of print and broadcast news sources
related to health and health care issues that affect racial and
ethnic communities. The report also highlights new studies and
journal articles, initiatives, developments in the field, and
upcoming events.
- Medical
Education Futures Study (MEFS) Newsletter. This
periodic electronic newsletter covers news and articles about
creating a more ethnically and racially diverse physician work
force, issues about the social mission of medical education,
and new MEFS products.
Special Topic: Cultural and Linguistic Competence
- Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Health Literacy and
Cultural Competency. Presents research and program information
and a collection of resources about health literacy and cultural
and linguistic competence.
- Cross Cultural Health
Care Program (CCHCP). Presents information about
research and training programs, a bibliography, and a collection
of resource
guides on topics surrounding culturally and linguistically
appropriate health care services for medical interpreters, health
professionals, social service providers, and others working with
limited English proficiency (LEP) populations. CCHCP aims to
serve as a bridge between communities and health care institutions
to ensure full access to quality health care that is culturally
and linguistically appropriate, thereby reducing health disparities.
- Cultural
Diversity, Health Disparities and Public Health.
Presents a webcast that aims to provide public health professionals
with a broad overview of cultural diversity issues with a focus
on race, ethnicity, and gender. Health disparities are discussed
using cultural diversity as the conceptual framework for thinking
about the role of the public health community and health policy
solutions for addressing these issues. The webcast, presented
by the Alabama Department of Public Health, originally aired
November 28, 2007. Handouts and assignments accompany the webcast.
- Culture
and Health Literacy. Presents an online training
module for health professionals and policymakers about how inequalities
in health information contribute to unequal treatment and health
outcomes for some populations and what communities can do to
eliminate health disparities and improve health literacy. The
module is presented by the University
of Minnesota Midwest Center for Life-Long-Learning in Public
Health.
- Culture
Clues™. Presents tip sheets for medical professionals
to consider when working with patients from African American,
American Indian/Alaska Native, Chinese, Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing,
Korean, Latino, Russian, Somali, and Vietnamese cultures. Culture
Clues™ are a resource of the University of Washington Medical
Center.
- DiversityRx.
Presents information about materials, conferences, organizations,
and other resources for health professionals, policymakers, researchers,
and advocates about culturally and linguistically appropriate services
in health care settings. Includes webinars, blogs, a listserv, and
networking opportunities about cross cultural health.
- EthnoMed.
Contains information about cultural beliefs, medical issues, and
other related issues pertinent to the health care of recent immigrants
to the Seattle area. Much of the information is applicable to other
geographic areas in the United States. EthnoMed is a joint project
of the University of Washington Health Sciences Library and the Harborview
Medical Center.
- Hablamos
Juntos (HJ). Contains program information and a bibliography
of materials about developing affordable models for health professionals
to overcome language barriers and to develop the business case
for language services. Topics include signage, translation and
production of Spanish-language materials, and interpreter services.
HJ is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
(RWJF).
- Health
Literacy Studies (HLS). Includes research and program
materials for health-literacy initiatives, including those designed
for particular racial and ethnic groups. HLS is a program of
the Harvard School of
Public Health (HSPH).
- LEP.gov. Offers links to
information, tools, and technical assistance about LEP and language
services for federal agencies, recipients of federal funds, users
of federal programs and federally assisted programs, and the general
public. LEP.gov was created by the Federal Interagency Working Group
on Limited English Proficiency to promote a positive and cooperative
understanding of the importance of language access to federal programs
and federally assisted programs.
- National Center for Cultural
Competence (NCCC). Presents resources to increase the
capacity of health and mental health programs to design, implement,
and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service-delivery
systems. Provides tools and processes for individual and organizational
self-assessment, a consultants list, training modules, a section
about working
with linguistically diverse populations, highlights of promising
practices in cultural and linguistic competence, and publications
that include Spanish-language materials. NCCC is part of the Georgetown
University Center for Child and Human Development. Resources include
And the journey continues: Achieving cultural and linguistic competence in systems serving children and youth with special health care needs and their families. (2007). [Report].
Body/Mind/Spirit: Toward a Biopsychosocial-Spiritual Model of Health. Presents a framework for health professionals on spirituality and religion in health. Addresses the potential role of spirituality and religion in how an individual copes with illness, health care decision-making, and health outcomes. Includes literature reviews, international and domestic publications, references, and other resources.
- National
Health Law Program (NHeLP): Language Access in Health Care.
Presents a collection of resources about improving policies and
funding for access to health care for individuals with LEP.
- National
Library of Medicine (NLM). Offers online collections
of resources for and about specific populations: American
Indian Health, Arctic
Health, Asian
American Health. Includes links to background on cultural
traditions and heritage and to information on health topics especially
relevant to the population group. NLM also presents a collection
of multicultural
resources for health information. Also see NLM's PubMed and
MedlinePlus resources on health disparities, health
information in multiple languages, and population
group topics.
- New
Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners: NJ Cultural Competency.
Describes requirements for physician training in cultural competency
in New Jersey. Links to the state statute and set of regulations
governing the requirements.
- Office
of Minority Health (OMH): Cultural Competency. Defines
cultural competence and provides a glossary of terms about cultural
and linguistic competence in health. Presents guides; standards;
training tools; information about policies, initiatives, and
laws; and additional resources to help health professionals and
health care organizations remove cultural and linguistic barriers
to health. Reources include
Think Cultural Health. Offers online courses accredited for continuing education credit as well as supplementary tools to help health professionals promote cultural competence in health care.
- America's Health Insurance Plans.
2006. Tools
to address disparities in health: Communications resources to close
the gap. A compendium of resources for health insurance plans, physicians,
and health care organizations. Washington, DC: America's Health
Insurance Plans. This compendium provides culturally relevant resources
and actions that health insurance plans, physicians and clinicians,
and health care organizations can integrate into organization-wide
initiatives and incorporate in everyday communications with health
care consumers. Topics include types of health information requested
by consumers; consumer views and attitudes on the collection of data
by race, ethnicity, and primary language by health insurance plans,
hospitals, and others; a review of current research on improving
access and cross-cultural communications; recommendations to improve
consumer knowledge and awareness of health disparities; and culturally
and linguistically appropriate health care messages and services.
- National Quality Forum (NQF).
2008. National
voluntary consensus standards for a framework and preferred practices
for measuring and reporting cultural competency [DRAFT]. Washington,
DC: National Quality Forum (NQF). This draft document presents a
national framework/core competencies for evaluating cultural competence
across all health care settings, as well as a minimum set of preferred
practices based on the framework. Also see the announcement about
the draft framework and request for comments on the draft.
- Office of the Surgeon General.
2006. Proceedings
of the Surgeon General's Workshop on Improving Health Literacy.
Washington, DC: Office of the Surgeon General. These proceedings
describe a workshop to present the state of the science in the field
of health literacy. Participants identified the public health consequences
of limited health literacy and established an evidence base for taking
action. Panels covered health literacy, literacy, and health outcomes;
meeting the health literacy needs of non-English speakers, minority
populations, older adults, and children; and helping the public become
more involved in meeting their health-information needs. Following
the workshop, the Department of Health
and Human Services (DHHS) held a series of town hall meetings
to learn about promising health literacy practices and to obtain
input into a national action plan. View the town
hall meeting summaries and a collection
of resources for improving health literacy.
- Weiss L, Bauer T, Hill C, Fuld J, Bergman J. 2006. Language
as a barrier to health care for New York City children in immigrant
families: Haitian, Russian and Latino perspectives. New York,
NY: New York Academy of Medicine.
This paper adds to and complements the existing literature on language
access by focusing on the consumer's perspective, including consumers'
descriptions of how language affects enrollment in insurance and
use of health care services and the strategies used to reduce the
impact of LEP.
- See the American Medical Association (AMA) publications, Assessing
the nation's health literacy: Key concepts and findings of the
National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) (2008) and Office
guide to communicating with limited English proficient patients,
2nd ed. (2007).
- See the Commonwealth
Fund reports, Cultural
competency and quality of care: Obtaining the patient's perspective (2006), Improving
quality and achieving equity: The role of cultural competence in
reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care (2006),
and Resident
physicians' preparedness to provide cross-cultural care: Implications
for clinical care and medical education policy (2007).
- See the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation issue
brief, Sound
of success: Efficient and effective language services becoming a
reality in some hospitals (2008) and the Speaking
together toolkit (2008).
- Also see the MCH Library bibliographies Racial and ethnic disparities in health and Culturally competent services. The library presents a non-English materials and resources list, the resource brief Culturally competent services, and the knowledge path Spanish-language health resources.
- See the MCH Library family resource brief Racial
and Ethnic Disparities in Health.
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health: Knowledge Path, 5th ed. (December
2008). (Updated: September 2011).
Author: Susan Brune Lorenzo, M.L.S., MCH Library.
Reviewers: Lauren Agoratus, M.A., Family Voices and Family-To-Family
Health Information Resource Center at the Statewide Parent Advocacy
Network of N.J.; M. Clare Dunne, M.S.W., National Sudden and Unexpected
Infant/Child Death and Pregnancy Loss Resource Center; S. Jean Emans,
M.D., Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School; Rachel
Y. Moon, M.D., Children's National Medical Center and George Washington
University School of Medicine and Health Sciences; Olivia K. Pickett,
M.A., M.L.S., MCH Library.
Editor: Ruth Barzel, M.A., MCH Library.
