National Minority Health Month is a great time for a wake-up call about obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. Each condition is linked to the other three conditions, and each often results in serious and often avoidable health problems. That’s why we have made them “Our Big Targets for Minority Health” (also called “The Big 4” by us). They strike hard and often at minority, or multicultural, populations.
Why the Big 4 are so important?
- 13 percent of all African Americans (more than 1 out of every 10) have diabetes, one third of them (1 out of every 3) don’t even know they have it;
- Almost 1 out of every 4 African Americans (38%) has hypertension (high blood pressure);
- About 50 percent (or one half) of African American, Hispanic and Native American women are obese, and their children are developing obesity at alarming rates;
- More than 8 out of every 10 adults with diabetes are obese or overweight; and
- The leading cause of deaths in African Americans and Hispanics is heart disease.
- The spring 2012 issue of our newsletter, “Health Power News” discusses in more detail why we are targeting 4 conditions in order to improve minority health although we consider 12 more conditions as major killers and disablers of minorities. “The Big 4” are targeted by us as our primary mission, including the fact that:
- Each of the Big 4 either contributes to the development of one or more of the other three conditions,
- Each of these conditions often makes it more difficult to control the other three, and
- Control of either condition makes it easier to control the other one(s), if present.
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