National Minority Health Month celebrates the one-year
anniversary of the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic
Health Disparities and the National Stakeholder Strategy for
Achieving Health Equity.This significant legislation has set
into action a comprehensive national plan to reduce health and
healthcare disparities (unequal treatment, unmet healthcare
needs, or significantly poor health trends) for racial and/or
ethnic minorities. Statistics surrounding health and healthcare
disparities for minorities in the United States give irrefutable
evidence that taking a vested interest in decreasing the health
equity gap should be a national priority. Below is a selection
of data from the 2008 Commonwealth Fund research: - Seven of 10
blacks are either overweight or obese; blacks are substantially
more likely to be obese than other racial groups. - Black men
are 50 percent more likely to have prostate cancer than whites
and are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer
compared to white men with t