UHURU FURNITURE & COLLECTIBLES: October 2007

Health Disparities Faced by the African Community in Oakland, California

Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles is an economic development institution of the African People's Education and Defense Fund (APEDF). The mission of APEDF is to defend the civil and human rights of the African community and to address the grave disparities faced by the African community in the areas of health, healthcare, economic development and education.

What do we mean when we say "disparities"? Below are just a few of the statistics that expose the disparities faced by the African community here in the Bay Area.

• Sources: “Alameda County Health Data Profile 2014", "Alameda County Public Health Department", thepulseofoakland.com, www.cablackhealthnetwork.org, pacinst.org

(This is a sample of our findings. For a full packet of health statistics, visit the store and see the sales desk.)

- African people have the highest rates of hospitalization for hypertension.

- From infancy to 64 years, African people die at rates at least two times higher than white people.

- African people have the highest rates of death from all cancers as well as unintentional injury of anyone in Alameda County.

- African people have the second highest rates of death from heart disease, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Pacific Islanders have the highest rates.

- African people in Alameda County have the lowest life expectancy of any group at 74.7 years of age and African men as a group have an even lower life expectancy at 71.1 years. This is compared to 86.7 years in Piedmont.

- African people experience the most premature death of any group in Alameda County by far. Homocide, cancer and heart disease are the leading causes.

- The infant mortality rate is the number of babies who die before their first birthday per 1,000 live births. This measure is often used as a benchmark of how healthy a community is, partly due to the great loss to society and partly due to complex interplay of factors that cause infant mortality. While Alameda County has relatively low infant mortality rates, the African community has infant mortality rates almost twice as high as the county average and much higher than any other racial/ethical group.

- A baby born at 2,500 grams or less is considered to be low birth weight (LBW). LBW is associated with a host of lifetime health concerns. The LBW among African people is considerably higher than any other racial or ethnic group.

- The prevalence of diabetes is 36.1% among Indigenous people and African people have the second highest prevalence at 11%.

- African people in Alameda County have the highest hospitalization rates for chronic diseases including diabetes, coronary heart disease, severe mental illness, stroke, congestive heart failure, asthma and asthma in children under 5.

- African people are diagnosed with HIV at a far higher annual rate than any other racial/ethnic group in Alameda County at 50.9%.

- African people have the highest percentage of people with disabilities than any other group in Alameda County.

- The residents of East Oakland inhale some of the most polluted air in the Bay Area, which makes it more likely to develop asthma and other respiratory problems.

- Rates of asthma for African children in Alameda County are 2.5 times higher than the overall rate in the county.

African self-reliance is the only solution. Help put power in the hands of the African community to bridge these grave disparities our community faces in health. Support Uhuru Furniture & Collectibles and the annual Uhuru Health Fair. Donate at www.APEDF.org.

The Economic Crisis Isn't Colorblind

"As is true with so many aspects of American life, when it comes to the impact of the economic crisis, race matters. According to the Pew Research Center, the median wealth of white households has grown to 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households. The report noted the historic significance of such pronounced inequality, as the gap is the largest since such data collection started over a century ago."
Click on the pic to read this Huffington Post article from 9/7/12..

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