What can we do to support the elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic population groups?
The elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic population groups is a complex problem relating to geographic and economic barriers, educational barriers, and access-to-care issues such as insurance and transportation. To overcome the barriers, community-based groups must come together to address the specific barrier that caused the problem in the first place. For instance, a high percentage of inner-city Boston youths do not get adequate vision care. The problem is twofold: there aren’t enough professionals to deliver the care, and funding for vision care does not include eyeglasses, an important solution to vision problems in many cases. By partnering with organizations already promoting health in their communities, we can meet the objectives of the Healthy People 2010 campaign. One example of health disparity is the high rate of glaucoma among African Americans. An example of a solution can be found in Boston, Massachusetts, where a particular community has a large pop
