As part of a national effort to eliminate racial disparities in healthcare, the state of Indiana launched the Indiana Minority Health Disparities Initiative/CEO Roundtable. It is a collaboration of government agendas and officials as well as community businesses and citizens that are working together to address the problem of unequal medical treatment. The group has identified three specific areas on which it will focus its attention: obesity, mental health and tobacco use. Initial plans call for public awareness campaigns, increased funding for public health programs and the creation of more "smoke free" areas in Indiana.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has singled out the Indiana approach and recommended it as a national model. The HHS attention on the program fits in with recent findings on the nationwide problem.
A January 2007 Kaiser Foundation report on health care and race found that Hispanics and African Americans were more likely to report their health as fair or poor compared with whites. The study also found that the incidence of certain chronic diseases, such as diabetes and asthma, are higher in minority groups than in whites.
