House Resolution 115

(As Adopted by House)

A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING APRIL AS NATIONAL MINORITY HEALTH MONTH.

WHEREAS,April is National Minority Health Month and recognized worldwide by the National Minority Health Group to bring attention to the wide disparities between the health of minorities and nonminorities; and

WHEREAS, the goal of the National Minority Health Group is to close the disparities by creating solutions; and

WHEREAS, the solutions are created by building public and private partnerships, fostering cultural competency among health care providers, encouraging health education and training, expanding the use of state-of-the-art technology, providing leadership in the consistent, comparable, and predictable monitoring and reporting of the health status of all vulnerable populations, including, but not limited to, Blacks and African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians; and

WHEREAS, African-American, American Indian and Puerto Rican infants experience higher death rates than white infants and this widening disparity is a trend that has persisted over the last

two decades; and

WHEREAS, African-American women are more than twice as likely to die of cervical cancer as are white women and are more likely to die of breast cancer than women of any other racial or ethnic group; and

WHEREAS, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death for all racial and ethnic groups in the United States, but rates of death from diseases of the heart are significantly higher among African-American adults; and

WHEREAS, in the year 2000, American Indians and Alaska Natives were 2.6 times more likely, African Americans were 2.0 times more likely and Hispanics were 1.9 times more

likely to have "diagnosed" diabetes compared with non-Hispanic Whites; and

WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to promote the health of all citizens:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we recognize April As National Minority Health Month.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be furnished to the National Minority Health Group and to the members of the Capitol Press Corps.