Provided by the Office of Minority Health Resource Center
April 18, 2012

April Is National Minority Health Month
Health Equity Can't Wait. Act Now in Your CommUNITY!
Attend the Youth Health Festival: Young. Healthy. YOUnited!
Saturday, April 21, 2012 from 12 pm - 4 pm - Health Equity Day of Action
Washington, DC

Mobilize on your Social Networks: #ActNow #MinorityHealthMonth
Follow Us on Twitter

Check Out our Blog
Partners give voice to the work in the communities, and Directors from the Offices of Minority Health in HHS agencies introduce their offices.
Just a sampling:
Celebrating National Minority Health Month, by J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE
SAMHSA's Office of Behavioral Health Equity Teams Up with Community Partners to Reduce the Impact of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders, by Larke Nahme Huang, PhD. Read the blog
Office of Minority Health and Health Equity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), by Leandris Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA. Read the blog

Download NMHM Poster and other Event Tools
Register a Minority Health Month Event
Get in touch with your Regional Minority Health Consultant

 

A Word for the OMH Director
Celebrating National Minority Health Month, by J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE This April, as we commemorate National Minority Health Month, we also celebrate another milestone in health equity: the one-year anniversary of the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) first-ever Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Read more.

 

With the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, offices were created in agencies across the United States Department of Health and Human Services to focus specifically on the issues of minority health. Find out the goals of each of these new offices and how their work will relate to the overall work of each agency here.

Offices of Minority Health in HHS Agencies
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Food and Drug Administration
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Health Resources and Services Administration
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

April Health Observances

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Awareness Month
This STD Awareness Month, we are focusing our outreach on healthcare providers, and their influence to promote sexual health and STD testing among young people.
Healthcare providers can make a difference by educating young patients about sexual health and STD prevention. STD Awareness - Reaching Young People
Get involved!

National Donate Life Month
With compassion and generosity, organ and tissue donors leave an indelible mark on the lives of countless Americans. Read the rest of the 2012 Presidential Proclamation here. Become a donor .

Research Corner: Achieving Health Equity
Collective Action to End Health Disparities. Beadle, M. R.; Graham, G. N. American Journal of Public Health, v. 101, Supplement 1 (December), p. s16-s18, 2011.
http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300372
Enhancing Measurement of Primary Health Care Indicators Using an Equity Lens: An Ethnographic Study. Wong, S. T.; Browne, A. J.; Varcoe, C.; Lavoie, J.; Smye, V., et al. International Journal for Equity in Health, v. 10, #38. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182883/pdf/1475-9276-10-38.pdf [PDF | 545KB]
From Politics to Parity: Using a Health Disparities Index to Guide Legislative Efforts for Health Equity. Webb, B. C.; Simpson, S. L.; Hairston, K. G. American Journal of Public Health, v. 101, #3 (March), p. 554-560, 2011. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2009.171157
Indian Health Service Innovations Have Helped Reduce Health Disparities Affecting American Indian and Alaska Native People. Sequist, T. D.; Cullen, T.; Acton, K. J. Health Affairs, v. 30, #10 (October), p. 1965-1973, 2011. http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/10/1965.full.pdf [PDF | 235KB]
The NCHHSTP 2010-2015 Strategic Plan and the Pursuit of Health Equity: A Catalyst for Change and a Step in the Right Direction. Allen, J.; Jennings, R.; Taylor, R. S.; Shipp, M. Public Health Reports, v. 126, Supplement #3 (September-October), p. 31-37, 2011.
http://www.publichealthreports.org/issueopen.cfm?articleID=2724 [PDF | 1MB]

Are Americans Aware of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities?
Only modestly, it seems. Read the article Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Has Improved Only Modestly over a Decade .  Also, Awareness of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities
Study Brief [PDF | 112KB]
2010 General Population [PDF | 257KB]
2009 General Population [PDF | 254KB]

Learn about OMH Disparities Reduction Efforts
See how the work of the Office of Minority Health lines up with the goals of the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. How are your efforts lining up? Share your story.

SAVE THE DATE 2012 Summit on the Science of Eliminating Health Disparities
Integrating Science, Policy and Practice
Building a Healthier Society
The 2012 Summit will be held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland, on October 31 - November 3, 2012.
Contact: 2012summit@mail.nih.gov

Search OMH Library Catalog Online
OMH has launched a new online catalog search tool. Now you can find books, reports, journals, media, articles, and organizations related to the health status of racial and ethnic minority populations. Contact the Knowledge Center if you need guidance on searching the content. Start searching.

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