WIBS 2005

Lifestyle Changes - Keys to Reducing Health Disparities Among People of Color

Health disparities persist despite improved technology to diagnose illness at earlier stages and a wider range of therapies to treat disease. The question of developing culturally specific approaches to disease prevention is receiving more attention from scholars and researchers as well as scientists and medical practitioners. That the top six diseases causing death among African Americans are identical to those among Asians/Pacific Islanders indicates the possibility that similar factors contribute to this situation. The ability to address these causes thoroughly requires collaborative research between scientists, healthcare professionals, social scientists and other scholars. The Winter Institute for Black Studies provided a context for starting the conversations that will lead to such research.