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….

(more…)

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?