African-Americans Highest Death Rates in U.S- Health Care Reform Urgent

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Wednesday September 02, 2009 · 12:39 PM PDT

2009/09/02 · 12:39

While healthcare is in need of radical reform for millions of Americans, minorities and especially Blacks have historically suffered disproportionately from poor or non-existent access to even the most primitive of medical care.

Grave numbers show that although African-Americans make up only 13.5 percent of the population, when compared to White men, Black men are 2.4 times more likely to die from prostate cancer, 30% percent more likely to die from heart disease; twice as likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and 2.2 times more likely to die from the disease

The data is just as grim and more so in some cases for African-American women when compared to white women with a 34% chance of dying from breast cancer although 10% less likely to be diagnosed as many have no access to healthcare; twice as likely to die from stomach cancer, and 22 times higher to be diagnosed with AIDS with a 20 % times higher rate of death.

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