Public Comments Requested on National Plan to Reduce Health Disparities

The federal Office of Minority Health is requesting comments on its National Plan for Action, which describes the current state of health disparities in the United States and proposes strategies for their elimination.

The Plan was developed following regional meetings in 2007-2009, during which:

Twenty common strategies were defined and organized around five core areas for improvement: awareness, leadership, health and health system experiences, cultural and linguistic competency, and coordination of research/evaluation. The Plan provides a roadmap – a starting point – of the collaborative strategies and collective actions. The information provided should serve as a menu from which specific actions at the neighborhood/area, community, state, tribal, regional, and national levels can be advanced.

Comments can be general or specific, with links provided at the end of each chapter for submission of more specific remarks. Comments are being accepted through February 12, 2010.

The second chapter, The Current Context, may also provide a good reference for anyone looking for data on/descriptions of existing health disparities, including a number of charts presenting rates of disease and health risk factors by race/ethnicity.

[Hat tip to Siobhan at Bringing Health Information to the Community]