Gotham Gazette
Gotham Gazette Web
Baruch School of Public Affairs

email this article

most emailed articles


Poor Health For Minorities and the Poor
October 9th, 2007

Last week the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released new figures on infant mortality – numbers which fell slightly in 2006 compared to 2005. Although progress has been made - 6.0 infants out of 1,000 births died in ‘05, while that number decreased to 5.9 in ‘06 – the figures still show racial disparities among minority populations, like Puerto Rican and black New Yorkers, whose rates are more than double that of white and Asian populations.

The disparity is not a factor of poverty alone, but also teenage pregnancies and out of wedlock pregnancies.

To the Post this morning, these figures point to the need of the health department to better educate New Yorkers on the “importance of marriage and on encouraging teens to abstain from risky sexual behavior.”

This is one of several reports that have been released recently that reveal racial disparities within the city’s health rates. Comptroller William Thompson released this report late last month, which pointed to elevated health problems in poorer neighborhoods, while the state Health Department also released this report, showing that racial disparities among statewide health rates have made progress but are still prevalent.

By Courtney Gross on October 9, 2007, 9:33 am
In category: Demographics, Economy, Gotham City, Health
Recommend this entry via: stumble upon | digg | del.icio.us |

Leave a Reply