SCSU Public Health Professors Study Racial Health Gap

NEW HAVEN, CONN., August 31, 2007 -- The health of Connecticut’s African American population is not what it should be, and in fact this group “leads the state in the prevalence of most chronic illnesses reported,” according to the results of a study recently published by the Connecticut State Conference of NAACP Branches. Two Southern Connecticut State University public health professors, John Nwangwu and Jean Breny Bontempi, worked on the study, Nwangwu as the principal investigator consultant, and Breny Bontempi as a health researcher.

The year-long study indicates that African Americans in Connecticut are three times more likely than the general population to suffer avoidable and preventable illnesses. Avoidable and preventable illness is defined as illness that results from unmet health needs, gaps in local health service and primary care system quality issues.

The study was conducted as part of a research project commissioned by the Connecticut Health Foundation (CHF) to look at health care disparities and inequities facing the African American community statewide. CHF is the state’s largest independent nonprofit foundation, dedicated to improving health through policy research, technical assistance, and grant-making in areas of children’s oral health, children’s mental health and racial and ethnic health disparities.

James Rawlings, chairman of the state NAACP Health Committee, says that “This study is a first step in changing public policy, which must be addressed before health care quality for minorities can improve.” The study took into account community input collected from statewide focus groups, data in the public domain, local and national data sources. A press conference was held at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on Aug. 31, to share outcomes and recommendations with statewide leadership.

The study methodology included a review of data revealing the prevalence of health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma, HIV/AIDS, lead poisoning and sickle cell anemia among members of racial and ethnic groups in Connecticut. Researchers also looked at data concerning health insurance status and hospitalization and immunization rates within these groups and reviewed past and present state legislation that might be contributing to health disparities in the state. The report shows that, in effect, the health of Connecticut’s residents separates them into two communities.

Nwangwu says that in his opinion the most significant aspect of the study results is that they are backed up by the NAACP and the Blue Ribbon Health Advisory Committee, a panel of experts from various health backgrounds that guided the research process. The study’s connection to these groups, Nwangwu believes, “will help bring about more change.”

He says that researchers on the project used data that had already been collected and validated by the federal and state governments but chose to enhance the data by running focus groups in four Connecticut cities: Bridgeport, New Haven, Hartford and New London. Nwangwu says that the focus groups “put faces to the data” and that the findings in the groups confirm the data.

Breny Bontempi, who conducted the focus groups, agrees, adding that the purpose of the groups was to find out what participants know about health disparities in their communities, what they think causes these disparities and what they think should be done about them. She found that “communities are very ready to take the next step in partnership with policymakers and other leaders in the state to address the root causes of these disparities.”

These root causes identified by the focus groups include poverty, unemployment, neighborhood conditions and economic instability. Breny Bontempi says she feels encouraged because she sees communities feeling empowered to address these causes themselves. “They’re not waiting for someone else to do it,” she says.

Among the steps the report calls for to improve the health of Connecticut’s African American community are creating a state office of minority health, merging the departments of public health and social services at the state level, and encouraging the business community to “support and invest in health prevention and promotion efforts to reduce costs and increase economic stability of the state.”

Contact: Patrick Dilger, Public Affairs at Southern Connecticut State University, dilgerp1@southernct.edu.

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