Executive Vice President's Report:

Establishing A Beachhead

Philip H. Gilbert, Executive Vice President

• twice as likely to die of strokes than Whites;
• 50% more likely than White women to be diagnosed with breast cancer at a late stage;
• face a 6% greater death rate for coronary disease than Whites;
• 50% more likely than Whites to have diabetes;
• 77% more likely to be obese;
• 60% more likely to be inactive;
• 6 times more likely than Whites to die of AIDS.

The chart below was taken from the 1997 Health Data Sourcebook, Local Health Councils of Florida, 1997. They cover the period of 1991-95.

Based on 1997 data, 38% of the 4,167 African-American babies born in Duval County were born in zip codes 32202, 32204, 32206, 32208, and 32209. Nearly 80% of the moms giving birth in the target area were single, compared to 56% of moms in other areas. More than 30% of births in the target area were to teen moms (<19) compared to 16% in other areas. Nearly 40% of the moms in the target area had less than a high school education vs. 20% of moms in other areas. Nearly one-third of moms in the target area had inadequate prenatal care compared to 18% in other area. In addition, more than 50% of the pregnant women in the target area screened for Healthy Start characterized their pregnancy as mistimed or unwanted.

The alarming statistic is that the African-American mortality rates in the target area have increased from 10.8 deaths/1000 live births in 1996 to 16.6 deaths/1000 live births in 1999 (January _ September, Provisional Vital Statistics). If you take the 16.5 figure and compare it to the latest reported 1996 death rates per 1,000 live births [McDevitt 1996, pp. A33-A34 (I realize that I am comparing 1999 rates to 1996 rates)] you find how our Jacksonville target area compares to some of the Latin American and Caribbean countries:

My purpose in raising these issues to a level of intellectual concern is so we can evaluate the facts and plot a course of resolution based on science. I can think of no better body than the medical profession to mobilize the leadership and citizens of Jacksonville, our state, and our country to find solutions to what appears to be health disparities among the races.

If our goals are the elimination of disease/human suffering and access to healthcare and psycho-social services for all, then the elimination of any disparity between the races in reaching our goals is our war, and the infant mortality issue is our beachhead. Does the DCMS, FMA, and AMA accept this challenge?

April, 2000/ Jacksonville Medicine

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