Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Black People Live Longer In Counties With More Black Doctors: Study
Stat: In Areas With More Black Doctors, Black People Live Longer
Black people in counties with more Black primary care physicians live longer, according to a new national analysis that provides the strongest evidence yet that increasing the diversity of the medical workforce may be key to ending deeply entrenched racial health disparities. (McFarling, 4/14)
The New York Times: Black Pregnant Women Are Tested More Frequently For Drug Use, Study Suggests
Hospitals are more likely to give drug tests to Black women delivering babies than white women, regardless of the mother’s history of substance use, suggests a new study of a health system in Pennsylvania. And such excessive testing was unwarranted, the study found: Black women were less likely than white women to test positive for drugs. (Rabin, 4/14)
North Carolina Health News: Black Maternal Health Conference Seeks Solutions
Everyone here knew the data: Black women are three times more likely to die in connection with childbirth than white women. And they knew the cause: hard-to-solve social and structural problems in health care. Their goal: Get to the source of the problem to help save the lives of Black mothers and their babies. As the United States marked Black Maternal Health Week (April 11-17) this year, North Carolina advocates and health care professionals from across the state met in Colfax to discuss solutions. (Fernandez, 4/17)
The Washington Post: Why Black Men Face So Many Health Hurdles
Social epidemiologist Roland Thorpe Jr. is on a double mission: to improve the health and extend the life expectancy of Black men, and to do the same for himself since both of his grandfathers died prematurely from heart disease. An expert in minority aging and men’s health, Thorpe is the principal investigator of the Black Men’s Health Project — a partnership of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and Michigan State University — created to call attention to the health crisis of Black men. (Petrow, 4/15)
The Washington Post: Genetic Prostate Cancer Risks Identified For Men Of African Descent
When it comes to prostate cancer, Black men face a grimmer picture than their White counterparts. They’re more likely to get and die of the disease. They also face longer delays between diagnosis and treatment. What’s behind the disparities? A recent study covering tens of thousands of men of African descent offers one answer — increased genetic risk, including some risk factors found only in men of African ancestry. (Blakemore, 4/16)
