Dear Friend, 

 

Thank you for visiting our website. Let me share some facts with you. Some groups of people are affected by prediabetes and diabetes more than other groups. Differences in health status or access to health care among racial, ethnic, geographic, and socioeconomic groups are referred to as health disparities. African American women suffer the highest prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D). As reported in US News, Black people have higher diabetes death rates than white people in the 30 largest cities in the United States. As reported in the Washington Post,  Black Americans die younger than white Americans and they have higher rates of death from a string of diseases including heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma and diabetes. By one measure, we are worse off than in the time of slavery. The black infant mortality rate (babies who die before their first birthday) is more than two times higher than for whites — 11.4 deaths per 1,000 live births for blacks compared with 4.9 for whites. Historians estimate that in 1850 it was 1.6 times higher for blacks — 340 per 1,000 vs. 217 for whites.

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There is more: 

• 4.9 million African-American adults, or 18.7% of all African Americans, 20 years of age, have diagnosed or undiagnosed diabetes, compared to 7.1% of non-Hispanic white Americans.

• The risk of diabetes is 77% higher among African Americans than among non-Hispanic white Americans.

• In 2006, African-American men were 2.2 times more likely to start treatment for ESRD related to diabetes than non-Hispanic white men.

• In 2006, African Americans with diabetes were 1.5 times more likely to be hospitalized and 2.3 times more likely to die from diabetes than non-Hispanic whites.

• African Americans are almost 50% more likely to develop diabetic retinopathy than non-Hispanic whites.

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The African American Diabetes Association believes that we should:

• Increase awareness and knowledge of the seriousness of diabetes in the African American community, its risk factors, and effective strategies for preventing diabetes or the complications associated with diabetes.

• Increase the number of Black people who live well with diabetes and effectively manage their disease to prevent or delay complications and improve quality of life.

• Decrease the number of Black people in the United States with undiagnosed diabetes.

• Among Black people at risk for diabetes, increase the number who make and sustain lifestyle changes that prevent diabetes.

• Facilitate efforts to improve diabetes-related health care and education, as well as systems for delivering care to Black folks.

• Reduce health disparities in the Black community which is disproportionately burdened by diabetes.

• Facilitate the incorporation of evidenced-based research findings into health care practice.

 

Armed with these facts, the African American Diabetes Association was established by a group of Black people impacted by diabetes, to advocate for other African Americans affected by diabetic conditions and empower African Americans to maximize their quality of life and raise public consciousness while advancing the search for a universal cure. As the only national Diabetes organization established by Black people, advocating for Black health equity, we are working to assist decision-makers throughout the country in developing policies and programs that create the social, economic and environmental conditions that improve the challenges of diabetes within our Black communities.

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We hope that you will join us as we expand our efforts by making a donation to the African American Diabetes Association, today! You can also contact me directly at Barbara@AfricanAmericanDiabetes.org  

 

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Barbara King, M.Ed, DVC, CFS

Chair and Founding Member