Today in this country, an African American baby is more than twice as likely to die in the first year of life than his or her white counterpart. Thus, infant mortality is a critical area of disparity. Newark, in particular, and the state of New Jersey as a whole, of course, have made a serious commitment to eliminate disparities in infant mortality, and we are very pleased to work with your Department of Health. The second area is cancer. Today in this country, African American men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer.
Vietnamese women are more than five times as likely to suffer cervical cancer.
And while white women have the highest incidence of breast cancer of any group in this country, African American women have the highest death rates from breast cancer. Asian Americans are three to five times as likely to suffer liver cancer, often associated with untreated hepatitis. So cancer is a major area of concern, because, despite the fact that we're making progress in treating cancer, we still have a long way to go toward eliminating disparities in health. In the area of diabetes, we have one of the most dramatic examples. Of our American Indian populations, the Pima group of Phoenix, Arizona, has the highest risk of diabetes of any known group in the world.