Increasing Diversity & Government Actions

The United States population is becoming more diverse.

About 28% belongs to one of five major racial or ethnic minority groups:

1. African American
2. Latino/Hispanic
3. Alaska Native/American Indian
4. Asian and Native Hawaiian
5. other Pacific Islanders

This represents an increase from about 20% in 1980.

The increase is due to higher birth rates among minorities and immigrants.¹

• According to 1998 United States Bureau of the Census, almost 13% of Americans are Black, just over 11% Hispanic (Latino), almost 4 % Asian/Pacific Islander, and almost 1% American Indian/Alaskan Native.²
• The Latino population is the most rapidly growing minority group and is projected to become the largest minority by 2005.³

Similar trends of increasing diversity are seen in the adolescent population.

• Approximately 1/3 of the adolescent population currently is a member of a minority group.
• By 2050 approximately 56% of the adolescent population will be African American, Hispanic (Latino), American Indian or Asian.²
• The number of Latino children has grown from 9% of the child population in 1980 to 15% in 1999. By the year 2020, an estimated 1 in 5 children living in the United States will be Latino.⁴

Government Action

In 1984 the secretary of DHHS established a task force on Black and minority health to investigate the problems of various racial and ethnic groups in the US. Its report noted disparities between White American and other racial and ethnic groups with regard to several health conditions.

A substantial number of studies followed, which further highlighted the relative disadvantage of a number of racial and ethnic minority populations.

Since then the department has established an office of Minority Health and devoted considerable funds for further studies with the aim of reducing disparities. Despite substantial public attention and policy changes, nearly 15 years later disparities in health among racial and ethnic groups remain an area of concern ⁵.

In 1998 to respond to the continued disparity, President Clinton unveiled the $400 million Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health5 in six areas by 2010.⁶

The six areas are

• infant mortality
• cancer screening and management
• cardiovascular disease
• diabetes
• HIV Infection/AIDS and
• immunizations

These six health areas reflect disparities among multiple ethnic and racial minority groups at all life stages and were drawn from Healthy People 2000.

Additionally, reliable national data is also available to track progress in meeting targets. Representatives from target communities and experts in Public Health set targets for reducing disparities .⁶

Healthy People 2010 goals and objectives emphasize health disparities.

One of the two goals listed in this document is to eliminate Health Disparities. An overview of ways health disparities occur among the various demographic groups in the US is provided in the document.

Each objective has baseline data that includes race and ethnic specific information.⁷