Working to address health issues

As school children, we are often told that America is the land of opportunity, a place where anything is possible if you work hard enough. However, for thousands of Americans, the \”land of opportunity\” is a merely a mirage. According to the latest data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, over half of all African Americans, Hispanics and American Indians are living at or near poverty.

Poverty often leads to shorter lives, higher cancer rates, more birth defects and a higher incidence of chronic diseases like asthma and diabetes, according to the National Institutes of Health. Nothing affects a person’s quality of life more dramatically than one’s health – and according to the Centers for Disease Control, for many health conditions, African-Americans bear a disproportionate burden of disease, injury, death, and disability.

According to the CDC, African Americans account for 40 percent of the AIDS cases diagnosed since the epidemic began; they also die sooner from the disease.

The American Cancer Society finds that though African-American women are less likely to get breast cancer, they are 28 percent more likely to die from it than white women.

Death rates for prostate cancer are nearly two-and-a-half times higher in African-American men than white men, according to the American Cancer Society, making this disease the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer death in black men.

More than 40 percent of African Americans have high blood pressure or hypertension – one of the most critical indicators of cardiovascular health – making this rate one of the highest in the world.

Why is this? One reason is access to quality health care: statistics show that far too many African Americans simply do not have health insurance and the lack of health insurance can result in disturbing health outcomes. Consider, for instance, that Columbia University Medical Center researchers recently found that African-American women with early stage breast cancer are less likely to finish chemotherapy treatment, further contributing to lower survivor rates.

Even if you do have health insurance, you still might not be receiving quality care. A report by the Institute of Medicine points out alarming trends: In some cases, patients cannot obtain a referral for their conditions; in others, patients might be passed up for a transplant or an operation like coronary bypass surgery.

We all have a role to play in helping to eliminate health disparities and it can start with something as simple as donating blood. For example, did you know that while 37 percent of U.S. pati-ents are African American, only nine percent of people who donate blood are African American? According to the Red Cross, one out of 12 African Americans is diagnosed with sickle cell anemia; patients who receive blood transfusions from donors with the same antigens, and similar race and ethnic groups have a better chance of survival.

There is good news to consider. Harvard researchers recently analyzed records from 1.5 million patients in 183 Medicare managed-care plans from 1997 to 2003. The study suggests that better medicine can close racial gaps, doctors said.

We know a pill helps no one if a patient cannot afford it, because of a lack of adequate health insurance. Fortunately, there is help available. The Partnership for Prescription Assistance (www.pparx.org or 1-888-4PPA-NOW) is a single point of access to more than 475 patient assistance programs that provide free or nearly free prescription medications. Sponsored by America’s pharmaceutical research companies, which also sponsor nearly 200 of the assistance programs, the PPA has so far helped almost 4 million patients.

African Americans need better access to the same quality health care that other Americans already enjoy. Anything less is simply not acceptable. The key to this is better access to quality health insurance and prescription drug coverage. That also means referrals, screenings, operations – and medicines – for everyone who needs them.