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For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2006

Large Health Gaps Persist Between White and Minority Children 

Contact: Erin Davis, (212) 697-2323 ext 107, EDavis@cdfny.org

Washington, D.C.  Black and Latino children continue to lag behind White children in nearly all areas of health care despite the establishment of national goals nearly a decade ago to close such disparities. According to a new report released today by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), Improving Children’s Health: Understanding Children’s Health Disparities and Promising Approaches to Address Them, the lack of health insurance is a major factor in the racial and ethnic discrepancies in health and health care access.

The CDF analysis shows stark racial and ethnic differences in child health and the effect of health coverage and income on these disparities including:

• Latino children are more than three times as likely and Black children are nearly 50 percent more likely than White children to be uninsured.

• Among insured children, Black children are almost 60 percent more likely than White children to have an unmet medical need.

• Black children are almost three times as likely as White children to have elevated blood lead levels.

• Black children under the age of five are almost three times as likely as young White children to be hospitalized for asthma.

“Every child deserves the chance to grow up healthy. It is a moral scandal that 9 million children in our rich nation lack comprehensive health and mental health care,” CDF President Marian Wright Edelman said. “It is intolerable that we have made such little progress toward achieving the Healthy People 2010 national health goals. Because of the long-lasting impact of childhood conditions, our success in reducing health disparities among children is crucial not only to improving the health of every child, but to the nation’s health.”

CDF’s exploration of health disparities between minority and White children paid special attention to the gap between minority and White children of similar incomes and health insurance status. Researchers looked at survey data to quantify health disparities and identified promising approaches to health and mental health care and community-based organizations that incorporate those approaches. Leaders were convened to discuss how the identified best practices can be implemented. The Aetna Foundation awarded CDF a generous grant to fund its work on child health disparities.

Community programs that have reduced disparities in selected health-related conditions are highlighted in Improving Children’s Health. They include:

• Black Babies SMILE, a maternal and infant health program in Montgomery County, MD;

• Childhood Asthma Initiative, a Children’s Health Fund program focusing on high-risk children in New York City, which has one of the nation’s highest rates of urban childhood asthma; and

• Wings of America, an American Indian youth development program in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In general, population groups that suffer the worst health status are those with the highest poverty rates and least education. Practices to reduce health disparities must be scaled up and incorporated in public policies that address the broader social issues at the root of these disparities.

“To begin to eliminate child health disparities, access to quality health and mental health care for every child must be our goal now. At the same time, to truly narrow the gap, we must also address disparities in educational and employment opportunities, economic security and housing,” said Edelman.

Read the full report: Improving Children’s Health: Understanding Children’s Health Disparities and Promising Approaches to Address Them.