The Guide to Community Preventive Services Review of Interventions to Promote Health Equity in the United States

The optimal approach to eliminating health inequities is through evidence-based interventions. In 2009, the non-federal Community Preventive Services Task Force launched a series of systematic reviews of interventions to promote health equity. Topics to be considered include education, employment, housing, and transportation. Thus far, reviews have focused on educational interventions: center-based early childhood education, full-day kindergarten programs, out-of-school time academic programs, high school completion programs, and school-based health centers. These reviews demonstrate the benefits of diverse educational interventions in advancing health equity. Here, we summarize the strategy of Community Guide health equity reviews, first findings and challenges

Reforming Fiscal Institutions in Resource-Rich Arab Economies: Policy Proposals

This paper traces the evolution of fiscal institutions of Resource Rich Arab Economies (RRAEs) over time since their pre-oil days, through the discovery of oil to their build-up of oil exports. It then identifies challenges faced by RRAEs and variations in their severity among the different countries over time. Finally, it articulates specific policy reforms, which, if implemented successfully, could help to overcome these challenges. In some cases, however, these policy proposals may give rise to important trade-offs that will have to be evaluated carefully in individual cases

CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Report — United States, 2011

CHDIR 2011 consolidates the most recent national data available on disparities in mortality, morbidity, behavioral risk factors, healthcare access, preventive health services, and social determinants of critical health problems in the United States by using selected indicators. Data presented throughout CHDIR 2011 provide a compelling argument for action

Developing the guide to community preventive services— Overview and rationale

Contents

Linear and Non-Linear Associations of Gonorrhea Diagnosis Rates with Social Determinants of Health

Identifying how social determinants of health (SDH) influence the burden of disease in communities and populations is critically important to determine how to target public health interventions and move toward health equity. A holistic approach to disease prevention involves understanding the combined effects of individual, social, health system, and environmental determinants on geographic area-based disease burden. Using 2006–2008 gonorrhea surveillance data from the National Notifiable Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance and SDH variables from the American Community Survey, we calculated the diagnosis rate for each geographic area and analyzed the associations between those rates and the SDH and demographic variables. The estimated product moment correlation (PMC) between gonorrhea rate and SDH variables ranged from 0.11 to 0.83. Proportions of the population that were black, of minority race/ethnicity, and unmarried, were each strongly correlated with gonorrhea diagnosis rates. The population density, female proportion, and proportion below the poverty level were moderately correlated with gonorrhea diagnosis rate. To better understand relationships among SDH, demographic variables, and gonorrhea diagnosis rates, more geographic area-based estimates of additional variables are required. With the availability of more SDH variables and methods that distinguish linear from non-linear associations, geographic area-based analysis of disease incidence and SDH can add value to public health prevention and control programs

Using ''Socially Assigned Race'' to Probe White Advantages in Health Status

Objectives: We explore the relationships between socially assigned race (‘‘How do other people usually classify you in this country?’’), selfidentified race/ethnicity, and excellent or very good general health status. We then take advantage of subgroups which are discordant on self-identified race/ethnicity and socially assigned race to examinewhether being classified by others as White conveys an advantage in health status, even for those who do not self-identify as White. Methods: Analyses were conducted using pooled data from the eight states that used the Reactions to Race module of the 2004 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. Results: The agreement of socially assigned race with self-identified race/ethnicity varied across the racial/ethnic groups currently defined by the United States government. Included among those usually classified by others as White were 26.8% of those who self-identified as Hispanic, 47.6% of those who self-identified as American Indian, and 59.5% of those who self-identified with More than one race. Among those who self-identified as Hispanic, the age-, education-, and language-adjusted proportion reporting excellent or very good health was 8.7 percentage points higher for those socially assigned as White than for those socially assigned as Hispanic (P5.04); among those who self-identified as American Indian, that proportion was 15.4 percentage points higher for those socially assigned as White than for those socially assigned as American Indian (P5.05); and among those who self-identified with More than one race, that proportion was 23.6 percentage points higher for those socially assigned as White than for those socially assigned as Black (P,.01). On the other hand, no significant differences were found between those socially assigned as White who selfidentified as White and those socially assigned as White who self-identified as Hispanic, as American Indian, or with More than one race. Conclusions: Being classified by others as White is associated with large and statistically significant advantages in health status, no matter how one self-identifies