Health Disparities
Health disparities is a perennial topic and a continuing problem. An article, “Health Status of Black South Carolinians,” by Dr. Robert M. Mayberry, a USC professor at the time, and Dr. Elise Davis-McFarland’s, a Citadel administrator (1988), in the first issue of The State of Black South Carolina and “Health Improvement among Black South Carolinians -- Individual and Community Responsibility” by Dr. Mayberry (1989) in the second edition were the impetus behind the creation of the state Office of Minority Health. In 2000, “Eliminating Health Disparities in African American South Carolinians: A Call for Bold Action,” by Dr. James L. Coleman, Jr., and Dr. Lisa F. Waddell, both with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, examined five areas of disparities in health: infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. According to the authors, “the elimination of these disparities will require aggressive, non-traditional and multi-dimensional approaches.”(p. 120-121) In the current edition, Dr. Bambi W. Gaddist (2007) focuses on HIV/AIDS and its devastating impact on the African American community in the state, which is partly a result of stigma associated with the disease. She calls on the African American community to promote education and awareness in the home, church, and social circles to change risky behaviors that perpetuate the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and to create a political agenda to address the lack of state resources for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Contributing to health disparities, according to a trio of articles -- two in the 1993 edition (Lynn, 1993; Gallman, 1993) and one in 1996 (Nixon) -- may be South Carolina’s low ranking on many environmental issues. Evidence showed that hazardous waste facilities are more likely to be located near African American communities than other communities. “Environmental organizations in South Carolina have shown limited concern about racial inequity in the citing of hazardous-waste facilities in the state,” one study noted (Lynn, 1993, p. 125). Greater environmental awareness and activism among African Americans in the state are necessary to prevent an increase in health disparities.
Overall, our articles show considerable need to tackle health disparities through a variety of approaches. The health of our people, and our state, depends on it.