ODP collaborates with other federal agencies, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and international organizations in the formulation of guidelines and policies that promote public health, and advises the NIH Director on these topics. Since ODP was actively involved in drafting HP2010, we are particularly sensitive toward and poised to address health disparities issues. Prevention is a critical area for improving health and decreasing health disparities. The ODP strategic plan to reduce health disparities will encompass three Areas of Focus. Meaningful reduction of health disparities among racial and ethnic groups requires accurate identification and quantitation of health status variability among such population subgroups.
Much data indicating the existence of such disparities is already available.
For instance, HP2010 highlights differences in disease susceptibility between African American, Hispanic, American Indian, Alaskan Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and white, non-Hispanic populations. The infant mortality rate is twice as high in the African American, American Indian and Alaska Native populations than in whites. The death rate for all cancers is 30 percent higher for African Americans than for whites. African American women have a higher death rate from breast cancer despite having a mammography screening rate that is higher than that for white women. Hispanics living in the United States are nearly twice as likely to die from diabetes than are non-Hispanic whites.