WELCOME

Introduction

Asthma

Cancer

Diabetes

Heart disease
and Stroke

Obesity

Nutrition

Physical
Activity

Tobacco
Use

Appendixes

Introduction

Both the Healthy People 2010 and Steps to a HealthierUS initiatives seek to eliminate health disparities, including differences that occur by gender and by race and ethnicity.  Major gender differences exist, some related to biology, others gender specific such as cervical cancer.  Among women, racial/ethnic differences are notable.  For example, women of Vietnamese origin suffer from cervical cancer at nearly five times the rate for white women. 

Gender and racial/ethnic differences are complicated and require greater attention and scientific exploration.  For a number of health issues, the differences also require further data collection and analysis. 

This Steps to Healthier Women Web section highlights major differences noted for gender and for race and ethnicity.  It describes data and provides graphical illustrations of the magnitude of the targeted health issues.  And it includes resources for more information and for taking action to end disparities.

Women of Color

In 2002, the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States totaled 282.1 million.  More than half (51 percent) were female.¹ 

Nearly one in five females (18.9 percent) is a member of a racial and ethnic minority group.²  Although these women experience many of the same health problems as white women, as a group they are in poorer health, use fewer health services, and suffer disproportionately from premature death, disease, and disabilities.  Many also face tremendous social, economic, cultural, and other barriers to achieving optimal health.

Women of color in the United States represent many diverse populations.  They encompass four major groups, which are listed in descending order of the size of their populations:

	African American
	Hispanic3
	Asian American/Pacific Islander
	American Indian/Alaska Native

Each group of minority women is made up of subgroups that have diverse languages, cultures, degrees of acculturation, and histories.  Specific population numbers appear below:⁴

	African American women have a common African heritage.  In 1999, 18.3 million or 13.1 percent of all females living in the United States were African American.
	Hispanic women, or Latinas, are a multiracial ethnic group, which means persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.  Many Hispanic women are recent immigrants.  Most Hispanics in the United States are of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central American, or South American descent.  In 1999, 15.6 million Hispanic females of any race represented 11.7 percent of the U.S. female population.
	Asian American/Pacific Islander women may be of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, Native Hawaiian, or other Asian or Pacific Island ancestry.  In 1999, females of this population group numbered 5.6 million and represented 4.2 percent of all U.S. females.
	American Indian/Alaska Native women are members of more than 500 federally recognized tribes as well as individuals from State-recognized or unrecognized tribal organizations.  Major subgroups of this population are American Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts. In 1999, slightly more than 1.2 million females belonged to this population group.

The lack of data presents a continuing challenge in describing the health status of women of color, especially for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and the subgroup, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders.  New statistical reporting requirements at the Federal level should help, but historical trend data will not be available.  To the extent possible, this section provides disaggregated data, including some tribal data. 

Women’s Health Data

The National Center for Health Statistics Web site contains Healthy Women: State Trends in Health and Mortality, which includes tables that describe the health of people in each State by sex, race, age, and year.  These tables can be accessed by downloading a free data dissemination software called Beyond 20/20.  Two kinds of data have been used to create two categories of tables:

	The mortality tables contain cause of death data at the State level for sex, age, race/ethnicity, cause of death, and year.
	The health behaviors and risk factors tables contain State level data for sex, age, race/ethnicity, and year for selected risk factors and health behaviors.

DATA 2010 is the data system that tracks all 467 Healthy People objectives. 
Data on each objective in all 28 focus areas are available as well as data on
specific population groups.  Updates are made quarterly.

DATA2010 also includes data on specific objectives related to the Steps to a HealthierUS initiative.

Tracking Healthy People 2010 is a comprehensive, authoritative guidebook on the statistics used for Healthy People—in effect the analytic framework for the program. 

	This statistical companion greatly enhances the monitoring of progress in achieving the Healthy People 2010 objectives.
	The document includes descriptions of data sources and operational definitions for each Healthy People 2010 objective and is available online.

Tracking Healthy People 2010 provides operational definitions for each objective and describes the various data sources such as the National Health Interview Survey. The document is available in print, online, and on CD-ROM.