The Health Impact of Resolving Racial Disparities: An Analysis of US Mortality Data
Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH,
Robert E. Johnson, PhD,
George E. Fryer, Jr, PhD, MSW,
George Rust, MD, MPH and
David Satcher, MD, PhD
Steven H. Woolf and Robert E. Johnson are with Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond. At the time of this study, George E. Fryer Jr was with the American Academy of Family Physicians Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care, Washington, DC. George Rust and David Satcher are with the National Center for Primary Care, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga.
Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH, Professor, Departments of Family Medicine, Preventive Medicine, and Community Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, 3712 Charles Stewart Dr, Fairfax, VA 22033 (e-mail: swoolf{at}vcu.edu).
The US health system spends far more on the "technology" ofcare (e.g., drugs, devices) than on achieving equity in itsdelivery. For 1991 to 2000, we contrasted the number of livessaved by medical advances with the number of deaths attributableto excess mortality among African Americans. Medical advancesaverted 176 633 deaths, but equalizing the mortality rates ofWhites and African Americans would have averted 886202 deaths.Achieving equity may do more for health than perfecting thetechnology of care.
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