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Volume 2: No. 2, April 2005
SPECIAL TOPICS
EDITORIAL: FEATURED ABSTRACTS FROM THE 19th NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHRONIC
DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Reducing Health
Disparities: What Is Being Done, What Works
William Baldyga, DrPH, MA, Karen Petersmarck, PhD, MPH
Suggested citation for this article: Baldyga W, Petersmarck K. Reducing health disparities: what is being done, what works. Prev Chronic Dis [serial online] 2005 Apr [date cited]. Available from:
URL: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2005/
apr/05_0002.htm.
If necessity is the mother of invention, creativity in public health has
never been more important. Fortunately, the ability of the public health
thinkforce (as compared to workforce) to respond to the challenges inherent
in assuring the public’s health is remarkable. The willingness of the thinkers
to share information has always been a strength of the field, and now new
technologies have enhanced our abilities to communicate what works, for whom,
and under what conditions.
Challenges to population health continue to mount. Risk factor increases
(e.g., obesity) and poorer access to services (e.g., percentage of population
without insurance) conspire with multiple other health determinants to create
monumental challenges for public health, particularly in the area of health
disparities. Understanding disparities — their roots and their implications — is a
difficult challenge; our future success will be largely determined by our
response to this challenge. Correcting disparities will require, in part, the
best application of chronic disease program knowledge to the populations at
greatest risk.
The planners of the 19th National Conference on
Chronic Disease Prevention and Control invited state and federal public health
leadership, academic researchers, and others to think about solutions for the
disparities that exist and continue despite our efforts. Some of the most
impressive responses to that invitation appear here. Creativity and curiosity
are features of the work presented in this section, and, it is hoped, they will
spark those virtues in the readership.
One year ago, shortly after the launch of Preventing Chronic Disease,
the decision was made to incorporate the best abstracts from the annual Chronic
Disease Conference as a regular feature. The abstracts capture the field of
public health now, offering a glimpse of what is being done, what works, and
how it does so. They come from state and local chronic disease
prevention programs and the academic
community, including the Prevention Research Centers. Furthermore, they reflect
the seven conference tracks: Partnerships; Evidence-based Programs: Research,
Translation, and Evaluation; Health System Change; Social Determinants of Health
Inequities; Communications and Technology; Methods and Surveillance; and Policy
and Legal. These abstracts represent some of the
best current work in the field of public health.
Two years ago, those not
participating in the conference would be hard pressed, by both time and access,
to find this information. Today, this issue of Preventing Chronic Disease
brings the information to your desktop. The abstracts can inform you, challenge
you, and connect you to colleagues who share your interests. You are invited to
take advantage of this opportunity and to react with your own ideas — those that
best meet the needs of your communities.
Back to top Author Information
Corresponding Author: William Baldyga, DrPH, MA, Associate Director,
Institute for Health Research and Policy (MC 275), 1747 W Roosevelt Rd, Room
572, Chicago, IL 60608. Telephone 312-996-0786. E-mail: bbaldyga@uic.edu.
Author Affiliations: Karen Petersmarck, PhD, MPH, Michigan
Department of Community Health, Lansing, Mich.
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