I think there is research being conducted looking for common threads leading to disparities across various groups. Whether this leads to development of a national strategy is a political question that depends upon grassroots and researcher action to move the administration in this direction (as well as the administration's willingness to move). That question, however, is a different one from the question of whether disparities are only conceptualized in terms of racial/ethnic dimensions and not socioeconomic position. Race, ethnicity and SEP are being considered by US researchers, as well as other dimensions (gender, rural/urban, etc.) across which we observe disparities in health and health outcomes. In the US, at least (wouldn't presume to speak for other nations), it is important to remember how important racism and ethnic prejudice are sources of inequity. It is a difficult and perhaps not a realistic task to disentangle the effects of racism and SEP in the US. When we consider health disparities in the US, I think it's important not to use a single effects model in trying to explain the patterns of disparity that we observe. Observed disparities in health are the outcomes of the complex interaction of factors and processes including SEP, politics, economic ideologies and structures, geography, racism, ethnic prejudice and gender bias. This is just to name a few of the obvious ones. From my point of view, we use the term disparities to describe observed patterns of differential health across populations. Inequities, however, must be understood as phenomena leading to observed disparities. I don't think disparities and inequities are the same thing. Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts, Ph.D., M.S.W. Health Disparities Research Coordinator Office of the Associate Director Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences National Cancer Institute 6130 Executive Blvd., MSC 7326 Executive Plaza North, Rm 4054 Bethesda, MD 20892-7326 Rockville, MD 20852 for express mail 301-594-6655 (voice) 301-435-7547 (fax) [log in to unmask] http://behavioralresearch.cancer.gov -----Original Message----- From: Barbara Starfield [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:13 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [SDOH] Pretty major event re: health disparities, BUT Then why is it that so little is known about the health problems of Caucasian individuals who are of low and working class? Or why has there not been an effort to find the common threads (like low minimum wages levels and other similar characteristics) across disadvantaged groups to enable the development of a coherent national strategy to eliminate/reduce inequity, at least in health? Barbara Starfield, MD ******************************************************* Barbara Starfield, MD, MPH University Distinguished Professor Johns Hopkins University & Medical Institutions 624 North Broadway, Room 452 Baltimore, Maryland 21205 Phone 410-955-3737 Fax 410-614-9046 [log in to unmask] ******************************************************* -----Original Message----- From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Heurtin-Roberts, Suzanne (NIH/NCI) Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 2:35 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [SDOH] Pretty major event re: health disparities, BUT A little further in this vein, in the US we generally recognized disparities in health founded on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic position among other factors. We certainly attend to more than racial or ethnic disparities in health. Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts, Ph.D., M.S.W. Health Disparities Research Coordinator Office of the Associate Director Behavioral Research Program, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences National Cancer Institute 6130 Executive Blvd., MSC 7326 Executive Plaza North, Rm 4054 Bethesda, MD 20892-7326 Rockville, MD 20852 for express mail 301-594-6655 (voice) 301-435-7547 (fax) [log in to unmask] http://behavioralresearch.cancer.gov -----Original Message----- From: Mario Browne [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 1:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [SDOH] Pretty major event re: health disparities, BUT Your assumptions amuse me. Perhaps white folk who are poor are experiencing "racial" health disparities, especially since "race" is a social construct, however I am sure that "racism" occurs in Canada, doesn't it? We cannot afford to only look at the socioeconomic "inequities", but also the underlying racial and ethnic "disparities". But hey, we all have our battles to fight. Some of us fight from an etic perspective and some from an emic perspective. Thank you for making my point. Peace, Mario Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]> on Thursday, December 02, 2004 at 11:29 AM -0500 wrote: >The nomenclature "racial" and "ethnic" health disparities used in the >States (compared to Social Determinants of Health as "we" refer to it in >Canada) is so very interesting since so many poor people in the U.S. are >definitively Caucasian and wouldn't refer to or see themselves as being >ethnically diverse because they are poor. Yet according to your >terminology they are catagorically experiencing racial and ethnic health >disparity. > > >Good luck to you, > > > Deborah > > >>>> [log in to unmask] 12/1/2004 10:20:09 PM >>> >In the US "we" call them RACIAL and ETHNIC Health Disparities! > > >Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]> writes: >>Well it won't get far whilke even progressives in the US continue to >call >>health inequities "disparities". That Thatcherist/Reagonist term >should >>be consigned to the waste and even health inequalities should only be >>used for descriptive purposes. But for analysis and policy >development, >>let's call them what they are, preventable, reinforced by elites in >the >>face of evidence and therefore inequities. >> >> >>>>> [log in to unmask] 12/02/04 03:09am >>> >>This looks like a temendous opportunity. And since it will be >>web-archived, it can be accessed and saved, I would think on CDs. >> >> >>But the big question is, and I ask this in the greatest sympathy to >my >>neighbours to the south: >> >> >>Can this come to anything in George Bush's America? - dr >>---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- --------- >>From EQUIDAD/PAHO list >>---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- --------- >> >> >>HEALTH DISPARITIES & THE BODY POLITIC: >> >> >>POLICY, RESEARCH, DATA & GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY >> >> >> Three international symposia sponsored by the Harvard School of >Public >>Health: >> March 3, 2005 - April 14, 2005 - May 5, 2005 >> For free registration & information on accessing free webcast, see >>website >>at: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/disparities >> >> >> Social inequality may be harmful to your health. It increases the >burden >>of disability and disease in communities and cuts short lives. >>Economic deprivation, discrimination, lack of access to health >services, >>and violation or neglect of human rights all play a part in shaping >>population health. >> Yet, despite centuries of evidence on the toll of adverse living and >>working conditions on health, only been in the past decade has >concern >>with >>social inequalities in health become part of the mainstream public >health >>agenda. >> To explore the role that governments and engaged communities can play >in >>reducing and rectifying social inequities in health worldwide, the >Harvard >>School of Public Health is hosting a three-part symposium series. >> >> >> --Thursday, March 3, 2:00 pm -- 5:00 pm, Harvard Conference Center, >77 >>Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston >> "Spreading the Health: Government's Role in Addressing Health >>Disparities." >> >> >> --Thursday, April 14, 2:00 pm -- 5:00 pm, Harvard Conference Center, >77 >>Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston. >> "Investigating Health Disparities: New Agendas for National Health >>Research Institutes" >> >> >> --Thursday, May 5, 2:00 -- 5:00 pm, Harvard Conference Center, 77 >Avenue >>Louis Pasteur, Boston >>"Making Disparities Count: From Government Statistics Systems to >Action" >> >> >> To enhance the global reach of the symposia, each session will be >web >>cast >>live, with free access. All sessions will be archived, also with free >>access, at this symposium web site hosted by the Harvard School of >Public >>Health. >> >> >> The content of all the symposia has been developed independently of >our >>sponsors. Admission is free. Seating is limited. See symposium >>descriptions >>for registration deadlines. >> >> >> SYMPOSIUM PARTICIPANTS: >> >> >> --March 3, 2005: "Spreading the Health: Government's Role in >Addressing >>Health Disparities" >> >> >> Moderator: >>David Studdert, PhD, HSPH Associate Professor of Law and Public >Health >> >> >> Speakers: >>Carolyn Clancy, MD, Director, Agency for Healthcare Research and >Quality, >>United States Department of Health and Human Services; >> Fiona Adshead, MD, Deputy Medical Officer, Department of Health, >United >>Kingdom; >> Asa Christina Laurell, MD, Minister of Health, Mexico City; >> Irene Nilsson Carlsson, Director, Division for Public Health, >Sweden. >> >> >> Discussant: >>Sir Donald Acheson, professor emeritus, University College of London, >>author of The Acheson Inquiry >> >> >> Q & A Panel: >> >> >>Deborah Prothrow Stith, MD, HSPH Professor of Public Health Practice, >>Facilitator >> Kalahn Taylor Clark, HSPH graduate student; >> Sofia Gruskin, HSPH Associate Professor of Health and Human Rights; >> Ashih Jha, HSPH Assistant Professor of Health Management and HMS >Research >>Fellow in Medicine; >> Brent Staples (invited), The New York Times, columnist. >> >> >> --April 14, 2005: "Investigating Health Disparities: New Agendas >for >>National Health Research Institutes" >> Moderator: Lisa Berkman, HSPH Professor of Public Policy, Departments >of >>Society, Human Development, and Health and Epidemiology, Harvard >School of >>Public Health >> >> >> Speakers: >>Elias Zerhouni, MD, Director, U.S. National Institutes of Health; >> John Frank, PhD, Scientific Director, Institute of Population and >Public >>Health, Canada; >> Mirta Roses Periago, MD, Director, Pan American Health Organization; >>PAHO/WHO >> Sujatha Rao, MD, Member Secretary of the National Commission on >>Macroeconomics and Health, India. >> >> >> Discussant: >>Harvey Fineberg, MD, PhD, MPH, President, Institute of Medicine >> >> >> Q & A Panel: >> >> >>Howard Koh, MD, HSPH Professor of Health Policy, Facilitator >> JudyAnn Bigby, MD, Director of Community Health Programs and HMS >Center >>of >>Excellence in Women's Health, Brigham and Women57;s Hospital; >> Christopher Murray, MD, PhD, HSPH Professor of Population Policy, >>Director >>of the Harvard Global Health Initiative; >> Atul Gawande, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Brigham and >Women's >>Hospital; >> Maria Glymour, SD, Research Associate, HSPH Department of Society, >Human >>Development, and Health. >> >> >> --May 5, 2005: "Making Disparities Count: From Government >Statistics >>Systems to Action" >> Moderator: Nancy Krieger, PhD, HSPH Associate Professor of Society, >Human >>Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health >> >> >> Speakers: >>John Fox, PhD, Director of Statistics, Department of Health, United >>Kingdom >> Vickie Mays, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of >>California-Los Angeles and Director, UCLA Center on Research, >Education, >>Training, and Strategic Communications on Minority Health >Disparities; >> Eduardo Mota, SD, Chief of Health Statistics, Instituto de Saude >>Coletiva, >>Brazil; >> >> >> Discussant: >>Godfrey Woelk, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Communitiy >>Medicine, >>College of Health Sciences, University of Zimbabwe; >> >> >> Q & A Panel: >> >> >>Robert Blendon, ScD, HSPH Professor of Health Policy and Management, >>Facilitator >> Howard Koh, MD, HSPH Professor of Health Policy; >> Mary Waters, PhD, Professor of Sociology, Harvard; >> Evelynn Hammonds, PhD, SM, Professor of the History of Science and >>African >>and African American Studies, Harvard; >> >> >> David Rehkopf, MPH, doctoral candidate, Harvard School of Public >Health >> Organized by the HSPH Health Disparities Working Group symposia >>committee: >>Nancy Krieger, Lisa Berkman, David Studdert, Bev Freeman, Alix >Smullin >> >> >> * * * * >> >> >>------------------- >>Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] >> >> >> >> >>To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT >the >>subject header -- to [log in to unmask] >>SIGNOFF SDOH >> >> >>DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO >THE >>ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. >> >> >>To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to >>[log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. >>SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname >> >> >>To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] >>Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if >relevant. >> >> >>For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] >> >> >>To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to >>[log in to unmask] >>SET SDOH DIGEST >> >> >>To view the SDOH archives, go to: >>http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html >> >> >>------------------- >>Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] >> >> >> >> >>To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT >the >>subject header -- to [log in to unmask] >>SIGNOFF SDOH >> >> >>DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO >THE >>ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. >> >> >>To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to >>[log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. >>SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname >> >> >>To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] >>Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if >relevant. >> >> >>For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] >> >> >>To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to >>[log in to unmask] >>SET SDOH DIGEST >> >> >>To view the SDOH archives, go to: >>http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html > > > > > > >All Human Beings are born Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights ( >United >Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights) > > >Mario C. Browne, BS, CAC >Center for Minority Health >University of Pittsburgh >Graduate School of Public Health >125 Parran Hall >130 DeSoto Street >Pittsburgh, PA 15261 >Phone: (412) 624-5665 >Fax: (412) 624-8679 >Email: [log in to unmask] >www.cmh.pitt.edu > > >------------------- >Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] > > > > >To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT >the subject header -- to [log in to unmask] >SIGNOFF SDOH > > >DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO >THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. > > >To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to >[log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. >SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname > > >To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] >Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if >relevant. > > >For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] > > >To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to >[log in to unmask] >SET SDOH DIGEST > > >To view the SDOH archives, go to: >http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html > > >------------------- >Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] > > > > >To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the >subject header -- to [log in to unmask] >SIGNOFF SDOH > > >DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE >ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. > > >To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to >[log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. >SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname > > >To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] >Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant. > > >For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] > > >To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to >[log in to unmask] >SET SDOH DIGEST > > >To view the SDOH archives, go to: >http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html All Human Beings are born Free and Equal in Dignity and Rights ( United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights) Mario C. Browne, BS, CAC Center for Minority Health University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health 125 Parran Hall 130 DeSoto Street Pittsburgh, PA 15261 Phone: (412) 624-5665 Fax: (412) 624-8679 Email: [log in to unmask] www.cmh.pitt.edu ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask] SIGNOFF SDOH DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant. For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST To view the SDOH archives, go to: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask] To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header -- to [log in to unmask] SIGNOFF SDOH DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU. To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header. SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant. 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For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask] To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST To view the SDOH archives, go to: http://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html