Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

CHAPTER
28
THE ROLE OF HEALTH
EDUCATION ADVOCACY
IN REMOVING DISPARITIES
IN HEALTH CARE
J OHN P. A LLEGRANTE
D ONALD E. M ORISKY
B EHJAT A. S HARIF
S ince the founding of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over fifty years
ago, people in the United States have experienced unprecedented improvements in
health status. There are now almost one million fewer cases of measles compared to
1941, and two hundred thousand fewer cases of diphtheria. Average blood - lead levels
in children are now less than one - third of what they were in 1976. More than two million
Americans are alive today who otherwise would have died from tobacco -attributable
heart disease and stroke because of the landmark announcement by the Surgeon
General in 1964 regarding the threat posed by tobacco. Moreover, efforts to protect the
blood supply have now prevented more than two million Hepatitis B and C infections
and more than fifty thousand HIV infections, resulting in savings of more than $3.5 billion
in medical costs associated with these three diseases (Turnock, 1997).