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Ethnic and Racial Healthcare Disparities - Full Statement

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR COMMUNITY AND JUSTICE APPLAUDS SENATE MAJORITY LEADER’S MEASURE TO CLOSE GAP ON HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES

WASHINGTON, DC (February 12, 2004) — The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) applauds Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) today upon introducing Closing the Health Care Gap Act of 2004. NCCJ President and CEO, Sanford Cloud, Jr. says, “This is a great step towards ridding our healthcare system of bias, bigotry and racism.”
Disparities in healthcare are not limited to socioeconomic challenges.

According to the 2001 Institute of Medicine report Unequal Treatment, great disparities exist in the quality of treatment received by racially and ethnically diverse populations. President Cloud says, “NCCJ is the leading human relations organization dedicated to issues of bias, bigotry and racism. Our history over the last 75 years on addressing discrimination and diversity issues gives NCCJ credibility in speaking on the quality care disparities that exist today. NCCJ’s experience lends itself to becoming the leading resource on healthcare disparities.”

Shannon Perry, Director of Public Policy, adds, “Healthcare disparities become a civil rights issue when an individual receives treatment based on the color of one’s skin. This becomes a social justice issue when a person can not communicate with their healthcare provider because of the lack of cultural competence in the healthcare field.”

On Friday, February 13, 2004 at Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, NCCJ, in partnership with Aetna and the Aetna Foundation, will convene the 9th Annual National Conversation on Race, Ethnicity and Culture. Sanford Cloud, Jr. will participate in the day-long conference focused on racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare. The conference will coincide with the presentation of the Voice of Conscience Award to former Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher.

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