Teaching
Certificate Program in Minority Health and Health Disparities"Minority health" and 'health disparity' are terms often used interchangeably to describe an inequitable situation in public health, and in the responsiveness of educators, researchers, and practitioners. African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native Alaskans, not only commonly live at the rim of the American socio-economic matrix, but die more frequently from preventable diseases than their white peers. Heart disease, obesity, HIV, diabetes, cancer, disability, and infant mortality are among the generally cited health problems that afflict one or more of these groups at alarming and disturbing rates.
To reduce this crisis solely to socio-economic, racially based, or genetic origins is to consider a complex problem superficially, and to miss fertile sources for solutions. Cultural beliefs, language barriers, corporate exploitation and targeted marketing, stereotypical medical models, and uninformed policy are just a few of the factors that play a role in perpetuating poor health among minority populations. Further, health disparities can and do exist along the lines of seemingly benign demographics such as rural versus urban populations. Future policy-makers and health professionals need the ability to view the composite picture of minority health and health disparities with a critical eye that detects the more subtle contributors to health disparities, and they need the transferable skills to detect and correct these inequalities. We propose a program that embraces and addresses the systemic underpinnings of health disparities and trains students in appropriate interventions.
The mid 1980s marked a turning point in asking the essential questions that, subsequently, form the contemporary body of research enlightening this important field of study. The creation of the Office of Minority Health within the US Department of Health and Human Services, following the report of Secretary Heckler on Black & Minority Health in 1985, provided a recognized vehicle and authority on which to base substantive investigations. The report also generated new and meaningful dialogue within circles of public health intellectual leadership and governance. As a result, we now possess a foundation of research knowledge, practical experience, and discursive literature to inform professional practice in the area of health disparities.
While we have promisingly moved beyond the sterile and remote idiom, "excess mortality," which characterized the findings of the 1985 report, there is still much to be done to improve minority health. Improving the cultural competence of health professionals is at issue here, as much as is the vital provision of primary services. Not only do persons of color and all minorities deserve parity in health, they deserve that health solutions be provided with attention to special needs, and with sensitivity to behaviors that promote or detract from our sense of human dignity. The recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) publication, Who Will Keep the Public Healthy?, recognizes 'cultural competence' among eight areas needing improvement within public health practice. One goal of our proposed program is to assist in meeting this need.
Healthy People 2010, another current guiding document published by the US Department of Health and Human Services, explicitly outlines determinants of health to be addressed toward the goal of removing our Nation’s health disparities by the end of the decade. The findings of this report, coupled with the recommendations of the IOM, form the basis of our curriculum design, and the creation of our core courses. Our proposed certificate program will make important contributions in preparing GSPH and more broadly, University of Pittsburgh students, to make an impact in the elimination of health disparities.
Flyer
Contact:
Craig S. Fryer, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Director, Center for Minority Health
Assistant Professor, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health
219 Parran Hall
130 DeSoto Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
(412) 624-3236 (W)
(412) 624-8679 (Fax)
cfryer@cmh.pitt.edu
Mary A. Garza, PhD, MPH
Deputy Director, Center for Minority Health
Assistant Professor, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences
University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health
231A Parran Hall
130 DeSoto Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
(412) 624-5531 (Office)
(412) 624-8679 (Fax)
mgarza@cmh.pitt.edu
