Report from Minnesota’s Twin Cities Examines Racial Health Disparities, Recommends Solutions; Separate State Effort Examines Same Issue

Two new reports describe the state of racial health disparities in Minnesota and make recommendations on how to address them. The first report, "Closing the Gap: A Public Health Report on Health Disparities," is part of the Metro Minority Health Assessment Project, a collaborative effort among the nine health agencies in the seven-county metro area surrounding the Minneapolis/St. Paul region (Hennepin, Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Scott and Washington counties). The report found the following:

• Native American and black infants are between two and four times more likely to die before their first birthday than white babies;
• Women and children in minority groups are less likely to receive adequate prenatal care and immunizations than are white women and children;
• Foreign-born minority women who give birth tend to have better birth outcomes and fewer low-birthweight babies than U.S.-born minority women;
• Minority teenagers have higher rates of STDs and tend to feel more stress, nervousness or depression than white teenagers;
• Native American teenagers are most likely to have considered committing suicide; and
• Overall, minorities are more likely to die at a younger age than whites.

• Look for answers "outside of what has traditionally been considered the realm of public health," including discrimination, housing, employment and education;
• Increase the role of minorities in health professions;
• Educate community leaders and the public about the benefits of reducing health disparities;
• Increase quality and availability of interpreters in health and social service; and
• Improve racial and ethnic information in health data (Minority Health Assessment Project, "Closing the Gap: A Public Health Report on Health Disparities," March 2001).

State Takes a Look
The second report, produced by the Social Conditions and Health Action Team of the Minnesota Health Improvement Partnership, contains similar findings. The report, "A Call to Action: Advancing Health for All Through Social and Economic Change," reveals the following:

• People with higher incomes have better health and live longer than do those with lower incomes;
• People are healthiest when they feel "safe, supported and connected" to family, neighborhood, workplace and community members; and
• Workers are healthiest when they believe their job is secure, the work they produce is "important and valued," the workplace is safe and there are "ample opportunities for control, decision-making, advancement and personal growth."

• Build a "representative and culturally competent workforce;"
• Identify ways to more actively involve community members and groups in health improvement;
• Establish stable funding and leadership to "support innovative long term collaborative efforts with potential to achieve and sustain change;" and
• Strengthen assessment, evaluation and research of racial disparities ("A Call to Action: Advancing Health for All through Social and Economic Change," March 2001).

Looking for Answers
Ellie Ulrich of the state Department of Health and Family Support said of the report, "We don't have the magic bullet. We need to think more broadly and work more broadly." To target racial disparities, Gov. Jesse Ventura (I) has earmarked $13.9 million in his proposed budget to address minority health problems, and the health department has made eliminating disparities a "primary goal." To that end, the department hopes to pay for community-based and local public health programs that now deal with disparities. Meg Hargreaves, assessment supervisor for the Hennepin County Community Health Department, added, "People who look at health disparities think there should be a health disparities program. It's not that simple. The state, counties and communities have to be involved and everyone has to do something and not wait for someone else to take the first step" (Majeski, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 3/29).