III 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 477 

Promoting minority health awareness and supporting the goals and ideals 

of National Minority Health Month in April 2016, which include bringing 

attention to the health disparities faced by minority populations of the 

United States such as American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Hawaiians or 

other Pacific Islanders. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 25, 2016 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BROWN, Mr. 

MENENDEZ, and Mr. SCHATZ) submitted the following resolution; which 

was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Promoting minority health awareness and supporting the 

goals and ideals of National Minority Health Month in 

April 2016, which include bringing attention to the 

health disparities faced by minority populations of the 

United States such as American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders. 

Whereas the origin of the National Minority Health Month 

is National Negro Health Week, established in 1915 by 

Dr. Booker T. Washington; 

Whereas the theme for National Minority Health Month in 

2016 is ‘‘Accelerating Health Equity for the Nation’’; 


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Whereas, through the ‘‘National Stakeholder Strategy for 

Achieving Health Equity’’ and the ‘‘HHS Action Plan to 

Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities’’, the Department of Health and Human Services has set goals 

and strategies to advance the safety, health, and wellbeing of the people of the United States; 

Whereas a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, entitled ‘‘The Economic Burden of Health 

Inequalities in the United States’’, concludes that, between 2003 and 2006, the combined cost of ‘‘health inequalities and premature death in the United States’’ was 

$1,240,000,000,000; 

Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services has 

identified 6 main categories in which racial and ethnic 

minorities experience the most disparate access to health 

care and health outcomes, including infant mortality, 

cancer screening and management, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and immunizations; 

Whereas, in 2012, African American women were 10 percent 

less likely to have been diagnosed with, yet were almost 

42 percent more likely to die from, breast cancer than 

non-Hispanic White women; 

Whereas African American women are twice as likely to lose 

their lives to cervical cancer as non-Hispanic White 

women; 

Whereas African Americans are 50 percent more likely to die 

from a stroke than non-Hispanic Whites; 

Whereas, in 2013, Hispanics were 1.4 times more likely than 

non-Hispanic Whites to die of diabetes; 

Whereas Latino men are 3 times more likely to have either 

HIV infections or AIDS than non-Hispanic White men; 


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Whereas Latina women are 4 times more likely to have AIDS 

than non-Hispanic White women; 

Whereas, in 2014, although African Americans represented 

only 13 percent of the population of the United States, 

they accounted for 43 percent of HIV infections in that 

year; 

Whereas, in 2010, African American youth accounted for an 

estimated 57 percent of all new HIV infections among 

youth in the United States, followed by 20 percent of 

Latino youth; 

Whereas Asian American women are 18.2 percent more likely 

to be diagnosed with HIV than non-Hispanic White 

women; 

Whereas Native Hawaiians living in Hawaii are 5.7 times 

more likely to die of diabetes than non-Hispanic Whites 

living in Hawaii; 

Whereas, although the prevalence of obesity is high among all 

population groups in the United States, 48 percent of African Americans, 31.8 percent of Hispanics, and 11 percent of Asian Americans are obese; 

Whereas, in 2012, Asian Americans were 1.6 times more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to contract Hepatitis A; 

Whereas among all ethnic groups in 2012, Asian Americans 

and Pacific Islanders had the highest incidence of Hepatitis A; 

Whereas Asian American women are 1.5 times more likely 

than non-Hispanic Whites to die from viral hepatitis; 

Whereas Asian Americans are 5.5 times more likely than 

non-Hispanic Whites to develop chronic Hepatitis B; 


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Whereas, in 2013, 80 percent of children born infected with 

HIV belonged to minority groups; 

Whereas the Department of Health and Human Services has 

identified heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes as 

some of the leading causes of death among American Indians and Alaskan Natives; 

Whereas American Indians and Alaskan Natives die from diabetes, alcoholism, unintentional injuries, homicide, and 

suicide at higher rates than other people in the United 

States; 

Whereas American Indians and Alaskan Natives have a life 

expectancy that is 4.4 years shorter than the life expectancy of the overall population of the United States; 

Whereas African American babies are almost twice as likely 

as non-Hispanic White or Latino babies to be born at low 

birth weight; 

Whereas American Indian and Alaskan Native babies are 

twice as likely as non-Hispanic White babies to die from 

sudden infant death syndrome; 

Whereas American Indian and Alaskan Natives have 1.5 

times the infant mortality rate as that of non-Hispanic 

Whites; 

Whereas American Indian and Alaskan Native babies are 50 

percent more likely to die before their first birthday than 

babies of non-Hispanic Whites; 

Whereas marked differences in the social determinants of 

health, described by the World Health Organization as 

‘‘the high burden of illness responsible for appalling premature loss of life [that] arises in large part because of 

the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, 


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and age’’, lead to poor health outcomes and declines in 

longevity; 

Whereas the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 

(Public Law 111–148; 124 Stat. 119) provides specific 

protections and rights for American Indians and Alaskan 

Natives, 23 percent of whom lack health insurance; 

Whereas, despite the substantial improvements in health insurance coverage among women overall, women of color 

are more likely to be uninsured; 

Whereas, in 2013, 15.9 percent of African Americans were 

uninsured, as compared to 9.8 percent of non-Hispanic 

Whites; 

Whereas African American women are more likely to be uninsured or underinsured, at a rate of 19 percent; 

Whereas 1⁄4 of Latinas live in poverty and Latinas have the 

greatest percentage of uninsured women in any racial 

group at a rate of 31 percent; and 

Whereas community-based health care initiatives, such as 

prevention-focused programs, present a unique opportunity to use innovative approaches to improve health 

practices across the United States and to sharply reduce 

disparities among racial and ethnic minority populations: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate supports the goals and 

2 ideals of National Minority Health Month, which include 

3 bringing attention to the severe health disparities faced 

4 by minority populations in the United States, such as 

5 American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Asian Americans, AfVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:23 May 25, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR477.ATS SR477

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1 rican Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Hawai2 ians or other Pacific Islanders. 

Æ 


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