CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report - United States, 2013 (Paperback)

CDC works 24 hours a day, seven days a week protecting people in the United States from health threats in order to save lives, promote health, and reduce costs. Achieving health equity, eliminating health disparities, and improving health in the United States are overarching goals to improve and protect our nation's health. Over the past 50 years, the United States has made significant progress toward these important goals. People are living longer, healthier, and more productive lives. However, this upward trend is neither as rapid as it should be - we lag behind dozens of other nations - nor is it uniformly experienced by people in the United States. In fact, these two shortcomings of our health system are distinct but related. Our overall health status does not achieve our potential. An important part of this - even though preventable illness, injury, disability, and death affect all segments of society - is that life expectancy and other key health outcomes vary greatly by race, sex, socioeconomic status, and geographic location. CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report - United States, 2013 examines some of the key factors that affect health and lead to health disparities in the United States. Four findings bring home the enormous personal tragedy of health disparities: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Non-Hispanic black adults are at least 50% more likely to die of heart disease or stroke prematurely than their non-Hispanic white counterparts; The prevalence of adult diabetes is higher among Hispanics, non-Hispanic blacks, and those of other or mixed races than among Asians and non-Hispanic whites. Prevalence is also higher among adults without college degrees and those with lower household incomes; The infant mortality rate for non-Hispanic blacks is more than double the rate for non-Hispanic whites. Rates also vary geographically, with higher rates in the South and Midwest than in other parts of the country; Men are far more likely to commit suicide than women, regardless of age or race/ethnicity, with overall rates nearly four times those of women. For both men and women, suicide rates are highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives and non-Hispanic whites. CDC and its partners work to identify and address the factors that lead to health disparities among racial, ethnic, geographic, socioeconomic, and other groups so that barriers to health equity can be removed. Providing accurate, useful data on the leading causes of illness and death in the United States and across the world is a foundation of CDC's mission and work. As Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen G. Sebelius has said, "Health equity benefits everyone." Every person who dies young, is avoidably disabled, or is unable to function at their optimal level represents not only a personal and family tragedy but also impoverishes our communities and our country. Eliminating the burden of racial and ethnic health disparities is not easy, but it can be done. For example, 20 years ago the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program was created to provide vaccines at no cost to eligible children. It is now one of our country's most successful public health initiatives. More recently, the Affordable Care Act, with its provisions to require insurer coverage of preventive services without cost to patients and to increase health insurance access for millions of previously uninsured Americans, provides a powerful opportunity to further reduce health disparities. Achieving health equity requires the hard work of many people and organizations. The future health of our nation will be determined, to a large extent, by how effectively federal, state, and local agencies and private organizations work with communities to eliminate health disparities among populations that continue to experience a disproportionate burden of disease, disability, injury, and death.