The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released the report, Strategies for Reducing Health Disparities, highlighting ways in which Americans can reduce health disparities.
Nurses have often led work to decrease disparities among the communities in which they work by providing patient education and outreach. The CDC’s report refines strategies to help diminish disparities among multiple communities.
Accompanying the report is a public health campaign that targets several audiences with ways in which better health behavior can be reached. The goal is to both define disparities and find real-world ways to help people change their behavior to become healthier, a response to the Healthy People 2020 report. The CDC’s produced an infographic that concentrates on addressing “disparities by race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, disability, and/or sexual orientation across a range of conditions.”
One intervention addresses the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, which works to increase the screening for colorectal cancer in native communities. The report identified that patient and provider reminders and patient navigators increased colorectal cancer screening rates.