FYI - Press release from the A. Philip Randolph Institute -- (Note: Although it is not the oldest organization representing Black workers in the US, what the A. Philip Randolph Institute has to say and what its organizers promise to do are important. -- Alice Furumoto-Dawson ) *Expand the Health Care Reform Debate to Include Race Based Health Disparities Urges the Nation's Oldest Organization Representing Black Workers** * Monday August 6, 3:09 pm ET WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The A. Philip Randolph Institute (APRI) announced today it would launch a nationwide movement to eliminate race based health disparities as part of the efforts to overhaul the country's broken health care system. "Now, more than at any time in recent memory, universal access to quality health care is gaining traction among candidates for national offices," said Clayola Brown, President of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. "While access is important to improving care it won't solve the problems confronting black people when they finally see a doctor. It's time to expand the national conversation to include eliminating health disparities so blacks can live as long and as rich a life as whites." Racial disparities in health constitute a national crisis: * Blacks live five fewer years than whites * Diabetes among blacks is 70% higher than among whites * Infant mortality rates are twice as high for blacks as for whites * The 5-year survival rate for cancer among blacks diagnosed with the disease is 44%, compare with 59% for whites * Black people account for 12% of the U.S. Population - and make up half of all the country's AIDS cases. APRI will mobilize its own chapters as well as leaders from the health, business, labor and political worlds to expand the current debate around reform. APRI has pledged to recruit partners from the faith community and grassroots organizations, seek support from lawmakers, and launch innovative public education campaigns with black celebrities to become the catalyst for changing the health and health care dynamics in America. A new health care system must refuse to accept different outcomes for blacks as compared to whites. The A. Philip Randolph Institute is the oldest AFL-CIO Constituency Group. It has 141 chapters in 32 States. August 1-5 in Oakland California, APRI held an educational conference focusing on health and health disparities. It attracted more than 800 participants, mostly black workers and union members. /Contact:/ A. Philip Randolph Institute Clayola Brown 917-207-2587 -- Alice Furumoto-Dawson, Ph.D. Sr. Research Associate Center for Interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research Institute for Mind & Biology University of Chicago Chicago, IL - USA Email: [log in to unmask] http://cihdr.uchicago.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 1200+ 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: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html