Transcript When Education & Health Intersect

WHEN
EDUCATION
AND
HEALTH
INTERSECT
Presentation By: Dr. Reginald Weaver
15th Annual Summer Public Health Research Videoconference on Minority Health,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, June 9, 2009, www.minority.unc.edu
Direct Correlation Between
Education & Health
❐ The better educated a person is, the more likely that person is to
report being in “excellent” or “very good” health.*
❐ Persons with lower socio-economic status experience a lack of
accessibility to quality education and healthcare resulting in
poorer health, higher mortality, and diminished opportunity to
participate in our democracy than do their more wealthy
counterparts.
*Wirt, J., Choy, S., Rooney, P., Provasnik, S., Sen, A., and Tobin, R. (2004). The Condition of Education 2004 (NCES 2004077). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: US Government Printing
Office.
“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in
health is the most shocking and the
most inhumane.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King at the 2nd National Convention of
the Medical Committee for Human Rights on March 25, 1966
Sobering Statistics
Children in the United States
(2007)
Number of
Children
Percentage
of Uninsured
Number
of Uninsured

All (ages birth through 18)
78.7 million
11.3%
8.9 million

Race/Ethnicity**

Hispanic
16.5 million
20.7
3.4 million

White
44.7 million
7.5
3.4 million

Black
11.6 million
12.8
1.5 million

Asian/Pacific Islander
3.3 million
11.6
379,000

American Indian
546,000
18.9
103,000

Other (multi-racial)
7.4
154,000

Total
2.1 million
78.7 million
8.9 million
Sources: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey; and
“Annual Update of the HHS Poverty Guidelines,” Federal Register, Vol. 73, No. 15 (January 23, 2008), pp. 3971-3972. Calculations by Children’s Defense Fund.
Sobering Statistics
Largest Number of Poor Children
Top 10 States in 2007

California
1,591,295

Texas
1,512,819

New York
844,424

Florida
678,038

Illinois
525,294

Ohio
500,745

Georgia
490,381

Michigan
468,400

Pennsylvania
446,832

North Carolina
426,047
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2007 American Community Survey, Table B17001. Calculations by the
Children’s Defense Fund.
Sobering Statistics
Largest Number of Uninsured Children
Top 10 States in 2007

Texas
1,454,000

California
1,273,000

Florida
816,000

New York
410,000

Georgia
325,000

Illinois
305,000

North Carolina
304,000

Arizona
288,000

New Jersey
273,000

Pennsylvania
226,000
Source: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 2007 American Community Survey, Table B17001. Calculations by
Children’s Defense Fund.
Poverty and Education Attainment
 Poverty begins to affect the academic achievement of children in infancy.
 Studies show childhood poverty to be highly correlated with poor
performance in academics, lower IQ scores, and an increased risk of
dropping out of school. Poverty also affects the level of education children
attain.
 One study found the IQ scores of children from disadvantaged socio-
economic backgrounds were 25 points lower than their counterparts from
privileged families.
 Additionally, lower socio-economic status is associated with a lower rate of
attendance and fewer years of school completed.
Bradley, R.H., & Corwyn, R.F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual Review of Psychology,
53, 371-399.
Disparities in Quality Education
& Healthcare
 Poorer health
 High Mortality
 Lack of Participation in our Democracy
 Ethically Unacceptable
 Moral Obligation
Risk Factors for Mothers of
Low Socio-economic Status
 Unplanned—and all-too-often unwanted—
Pregnancies
 Smoking and Alcohol Consumption Pregnancy
 Inadequate Prenatal Care
 Other Factors
School-to-Prison Pipeline
Children
with
Emotional
Disturbance
Fail more courses,
earn lower grade
point averages, miss
more days of school
and are retained more
often than other
students with
disabilities.
Have the worst
graduation rate of all
disabilities; nationally,
only 35% graduate
from high school
(compared to 76%
for all students).
Are twice as likely as
students with other
disabilities to become
teenage mothers.
Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline by Enforcing Special Education Law.”
(http://www.splcenter.org/legal/schoolhouse.jsp).
School-to-Prison Pipeline
Children
with
Emotional
Disturbance
Have alarmingly high
drop-out rates – and
74% of those who
drop out are arrested
within five years.
Are more than three
times as likely as
other students to be
arrested before
leaving school.
Are twice as likely as
students with other
disabilities to be living
in a correctional facility,
halfway house, drug
treatment center, or “on
the street” after leaving
school.
Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Stopping the School-to-Prison Pipeline by Enforcing Special Education Law.”
(http://www.splcenter.org/legal/schoolhouse.jsp).
School-to-Prison Pipeline
 Black boys are four times as likely as their White
peers to be incarcerated.
 Black youths are almost five times and Latino
youths are more than twice as likely to be
incarcerated as White youths for drug offenses.
 580,000 Black males are serving sentences in
state or federal prison, while fewer than 40,000
Black males earn a bachelor’s degree each year.
Information from the Children Defense Fund’s “America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline.” p. 37, (2007)
Why Should We Care?
 Ethically Unacceptable
 Moral Obligation
 Human & Civil Rights Issue
Impact
 Ethnic Minorities and Underserved Whites
 The Economy
 National Security
Future Outlook
 As of February 2009, the United States has a total
resident population of 306 million.
 Outlook on 2010 Census.
 The US Census projects that the population will
increase to 439.1 million in 2050.
 Population growth is fastest among minorities,
and according to the United States Census
Bureau's estimation for 2005, 45% of American
children under the age of 5 are minorities.
What is our role?
 In Creating The Issue
 In Acknowledging The Issue
 In Addressing and Resolving The Issue
Ethical and Moral Duty

All people have the right to adequate
healthcare and a quality education.

Connectedness of Injustice

Multi-level Approach
Powers, Madison and Ruth Faden. Social Justice: The Moral Foundations of Public Health and Social Policy. NY. Oxford,
2006, p. 50.
Baylor, Barbara T. “Addressing Health Disparities and Health Inequities.” www.health-ministries.org.
Multi-level Approach to Fighting
Inequities in Education and Health
Families
Educators/Academia
Communities
Community Leaders
Churches
Professionals
Institutions and Organizations
Other Key stakeholders
WHEN
EDUCATION
AND
HEALTH
INTERSECT
Presentation By: Dr. Reginald Weaver