The Silent Killer: AID in Black America

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAPwJuy3DLY

To help kick off a two-week-long national online conversation, TheLoop21.com  hosted a forum Wednesday in NYC entitled The New Silent Killer: AIDS in Black America.  The forum was centered around a panel discussion on AIDS education and awareness among African Americans and how our community can embrace the internet as a tool to inform and educate.  You can see the full panel here.

HIV/AIDS has been around far too long.  Although statistical data among other ethnic groups continue to show drastic decreases, the African American community continues to show alarming increases. I personally applaud TheLoop21.com in its effort in utilizing the popularity of the internet as a tool to start the conversation.  After all, our future is at stake.

Panelists included Blogxilla, editor and creator of the premiere urban relationship and entertainment blog, BlogXilla.com; Kenya Byrd, Senior Editor, Essence.com; Chuck Creekmur, Co Founder/Co CEO, AllHipHop.com; Terrence Dean, Speaker, Educator and Author of, “Hiding in Hip Hop: On The Down Low in the Entertainment Industry”; Sonya D. Lockett, VP of Public Affairs, BET; K. Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, Assistant Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ;  and Angela Yee, On Air Personality, Shade 45 on Sirius Radio.  The panel was moderated by Mike Muse, a prominent producer, lecturer and political fundraiser.

Although African Americans account for only 13 percent of the population, yet we account for more than 54 percent of new HIV/AIDS infections each year, according to a 2005 Centers for Disease Control report. AIDS was the leading cause of death of black women age 25 – 34.

Where you live and how you live dramatically impact your health. But imagine if the city you called home really literally did you more harm than good?

A recent study in the journal Cancer shows that geography, not racial disparities, may have a greater impact on the survival rates of African American cancer patients. The Stony Brook University researchers hypothesized that:

“racial disparities in cancer survival diminished when smaller geographic areas were analyzed, modifiable factors, not genetics, may be responsible for the disparity.”

On the one hand, it’s encouraging to learn that racial differences may not be the underlying factor for survival. On the other, when a majority of African American populations are concentrated in large, urban cities this geographic difference can literally translate into a life or death situation.

Gallup and America’s Health Insurance Plans (an industry group) just released this really interesting, in-depth new study/map showing the shocking “well-being” disparities in America. They have been surveying 1,000 new people every day since January 2008 to come up with “well-being” scores for each state and congressional district. The score takes into account general happiness, access to care, work quality, physical health and emotional health.

The disparities it shows are striking – though not necessarily surprising.

If you have a minute, visit this page, go to the Quick Report builder in the center of the page, create a map filtering by congressional district, then zoom in on any region you know well. You can see clearly that the poorer congressional districts all have far lower “well-being scores.” The proximity of wealth, healthy communities to poor, unhealthy ones is shocking.

Click through to the jump to see the well-being map of New York City. Nearly all of the low-scoring districts are overwhelmingly low-income communities and communities of color (like the 11th District, my district):

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A recap of this week’s equity news

“California adopts the most sweeping curbs on greenhouse gas emissions in U.S.,” - Los Angeles Times
The state air board orders a 15% cut in emissions over the next 12 years, bringing them down to 1990 levels.

Reporting from Sacramento — California regulators adopted the nation’s first comprehensive plan to slash greenhouse gases Thursday and characterized it as a model for President-elect Barack Obama, who has pledged an aggressive national and international effort to combat global warming.

The ambitious blueprint by the world’s eighth-largest economy would cut the state’s emissions by 15% from today’s level over the next 12 years, bringing them down to 1990 levels.

“Obama: Transportation can get economy moving,” - Associated Press

WASHINGTON - When President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to get the economy moving again, he means it quite literally.

Transportation will play a central role in Obama’s first months in office, not just for policy changes aimed at improving highway, air and rail travel, but as a road toward economic recovery, energy independence and environmental protection.

“Study: Poverty dramatically affects children’s brains,” - USA TODAY

A new study finds that certain brain functions of some low-income 9- and 10-year-olds pale in comparison with those of wealthy children and that the difference is almost equivalent to the damage from a stroke.

“It is a similar pattern to what’s seen in patients with strokes that have led to lesions in their prefrontal cortex,” which controls higher-order thinking and problem solving, says lead researcher Mark Kishiyama, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California-Berkeley. “It suggests that in these kids, prefrontal function is reduced or disrupted in some way.”
 

This AP Investigative story is simply stunning:

Scientists using federal grants spread fertilizer made from human and industrial wastes on yards in poor, black neighborhoods to test whether it might protect children from lead poisoning in the soil. Families were assured the sludge was safe and were never told about any harmful ingredients.

Nine low-income families in Baltimore row houses agreed to let researchers till the sewage sludge into their yards and plant new grass. In exchange, they were given food coupons as well as the free lawns as part of a study published in 2005 and funded by the Housing and Urban Development Department. (emphasis mine)

A similar study was also conducted in East St. Louis, Illinois.

The health dangers of living in low-income communities aren’t always so blatant or intentionally inflicted, though. The PolicyLink Center for Health and Place is a great source of information and strategies on how to build and lift up healthier communities.

The timing could not be better for the launch of the landmark PBS documentary
Unnatural Causes – Is Inequality Making us Sick?, a four-part series that sheds light on the critical importance of economics, race and class on health outcomes.

The documentary (which I helped advise) skillfully portrays the vast disparities in health and overall quality of life between families with wealth and those clinging to the middle and lower rungs of the economic ladder.

The more money you have, the better your health. This powerful and vital message is at the heart of the series and helped spur the creation of the PolicyLink Center for Health and Place, which I direct.

More resources and insights below the fold….

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Tune in TONIGHT to PBS for the premiere of a seven-part series, “Unnatural Causes: Is Inequality Making Us Sick?”

1. The first part of the series, “In Sickness and In Wealth,” which airs tonight at 10 pm EST, travels to Louisville, Kentucky to explore how social class shapes opportunities for good health. According to the installment “the U.S. has the greatest income inequality – and the worst health.” The episode also takes a look at Louisville’s innovative Center for Health Equity, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between members of the community, government, private business, and health-care organizations—all focused on the social conditions that underlie opportunities for health and wellbeing.

Watch a preview clip here:

Where you live determines how you live.

“Health Care State Rankings 2008,” by independent publisher CQ Press, has named Mississippi the most unhealthy state in America, followed by last year’s dubious winner, Louisiana.

According to the report on AOL.com, “Mississippi has the highest rate of teenage births in the nation, the highest infant mortality rate and the highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases. It also has the largest percentage of obese adults and adults who do not exercise.” Interestingly, the country seems divided by regions; the top unhealthiest cities are mostly in the South or West while the healthiest cities tend to be in the Northeast or Midwest.

Unhealthiest States

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. New Mexico
4. Nevada
5. Florida

Healthiest States

1. Minnesota
2. New Hampshire
3. Vermont
4. Maine
5. Massachusetts

PolicyLink believes that where you live determines how well you live; and available resources are not always equally distributed. Furthermore, communities of color and low-income communities often deal with issues of poverty and economic disinvestment, that compromise individual and community health. For more information on these issues, check out: “Why Place Matters: Building a Movement for Healthy Communities,” (pdf) a report by PolicyLink and The California Endowment, which provides an interesting framework that further explains the relationship between community conditions and health.

A new study in the journal Health Affairs says black and Latino children are more than 12 times as likely as white children to live in “double jeopardy”—to be poor and to live in neighborhoods with limited opportunity. The study argues that public health policies should:

“improve access to opportunity-rich neighborhoods through enhanced housing mobility, and increase the opportunities for healthy living in disadvantaged neighborhoods.”

The article is included in the March/April 2008 issue that focuses on health disparities and is based on results from studies of neighborhood opportunity in 100 metropolitan areas.

Some facts from the article:

• Nearly 17 percent of African-American children and 20.5 percent of Latino children live in “double jeopardy,” compared to 1.4 percent of white children
• The typical poor white child lives in a neighborhood where the poverty rate is 13.6 percent; for the African-American and Latino child, the rate is nearly 30 and 26 percent respectively
• Differences between African-American and white children were most pronounced in Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans, Chicago, and Birmingham, Alabama
• Disparities between Latino and white children were most blatant in the communities of McEllen, El Paso, and San Antonio, Texas; and Los Angeles and Fresno, California

Problems and solutions to issues related to neighborhood opportunity and health were just some of the hot topics discussed at Regional Equity 08. We heard about the New Orleans Food and Farm Network and other efforts across the country that are helping low-income community residents find good food close to home. Can anyone recommend other articles or organizations focused on this work?