Health

Health Committee

NAACP HEALTH GOAL

The NAACP Health Department's goals are to organize new NAACP branch health committees; develop national health education initiatives; expand community outreach; and sponsor collaborative programs with other national and local health organizations.

TARGET AREA AND DISPARITIES

NAACP Goal: Ensure access to high-quality affordable healthcare

Racial Disparities and Access to Healthcare: Minorities are less likely to be insured and more likely to receive substandard care than non-minorities even when access-related factors, such as patients' insurance status and income, are controlled.

NAACP Goal: Eliminate disparities in HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS: There are now an estimated 1.3 million Americans living with HIV; nearly half of them are Black. African Americans represent over 51% of the new HIV infections in the United States.

NAACP Goal: Reduce Obesity Disparities and related diseases--diabetes, hypertension, heart disease

Obesity: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 77 percent of Black women and 62 percent of Black men are overweight - which helps explain why we lead in many statistics for obesity-related conditions, like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

NAACP Goal: Promoting the development of good mental health practices and programs.

Mental Health: Minorities are less likely to receive needed mental health services, often receive a poorer quality of mental health care treatment, and are underrepresented in mental health research.

NAACP Goal: Reduce disparities in respiratory diseases.

Respiratory Diseases: African Americans have similar rates of cigarette smoking as Whites (22% vs. 24% respectively in 2002) and lower overall exposure to tobacco smoke, but are more likely to develop and die from lung cancer. Black men are at least 50 percent more likely to develop lung cancer and 36 percent more likely to die from the disease than White men.

To contact the chairman, click Health Chair.