Montgomery County health professionals and community workers will gather Tuesday at the Boonshoft School of Medicine at Wright State to discuss how race and economic status can affect rates of disease and infant mortality.
African-Americans in Montgomery County are almost twice as likely as white people to be uninsured, and the infant mortality rate is almost three times higher for black residents.
But Kimberly Conner with Center for Healthy Communities says health disparities aren’t just about race.
“Income levels, poverty, other social conditions, safety and adequate housing, employment status and educational levels, health literacy or just literacy period: all of those things play a factor in health disparities especially among minority populations,” says Conner.
Tuesday is the first event in a four-part series of seminars about the issue. Topics will include infant mortality, cancer and diabetes.