WEST MICHIGAN, MI – Black residents of Muskegon County are worse
off than white residents on a host of health factors, but nobody
is quite sure how Latino and Native American residents are
faring. The Muskegon-Oceana County Health Disparities Reduction
Coalition compiled a report on the health of residents of
Muskegon and Oceana counties from different ethnic groups. The
coalition includes 26 groups that work with health in some
capacity. Health disparities refer to a difference in health
between different groups. Though racial differences may get the
most attention, groups from different geographic areas,
socioeconomic classes and education levels also have been shown
to have marked differences in health.Black Muskegon County
residents fared worse than whites in percentage of babies with a
low birth weight, number of days with “poor mental health,”
rates of diabetes in adults, rates of chlamydia infection and
births to teen moms. The two groups were nearly equal in the
percentage of their members without hea