Health Disparities Seminar Series

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) sponsors the monthly NIH Health Disparities Seminar Series. The forum disseminates information on advances, gaps, and current issues related to health disparities research. It features national and international health disparities research experts, including many funded by the NIMHD, the other NIH Institutes and Centers, and federal agency partners. Each seminar focuses on a specific theme.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) is pleased to welcome Dr. Jeffrey A. Henderson, President and CEO of the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health, as the speaker for the November 18, 2010 NIH Health Disparities Seminar Series. The seminar will focus on American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/NA) health in commemoration of National Native American Heritage Month.

American Indian and Alaska Native people face some of the worst health outcomes in the United States. For example, American Indians and Alaska Natives are twice as likely as whites to die from diabetes, liver cancer or inflammatory bowel disease. They have greater prevalence of heart disease and obesity than the general population. One in four American Indians and Alaska Natives live in poverty; one in three have no health insurance. AI/AN babies are 30 percent more likely than white babies to die from complications relating to low birth weight and twice as likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome. Accidental deaths and suicide are also major health concerns in the community.

Dr. Henderson established the Black Hills Center for American Indian Health in 1998 to better educate AI/NA people on an array of health issues that disproportionately affect native people. The center works in collaboration with many American Indian communities in conducting research. During his presentation, Dr. Henderson will explain the social and health inequities that affect AI/AN communities. He will discuss the causes of these injustices and highlight the advancements that researchers, health professionals and community advocates are making to address them

http://www.ncmhd.nih.gov