Report details Mass. healthcare disparities – Perils high among Hispanics, blacks – Massachusetts – (among the findings: Hispanics living on the western edge of Massachusetts are the most likely to die from AIDS, with a death rate 10 times above the state average)

Link to Report

From one end of Massachusetts to the other, Hispanics and African-Americans disproportionately bear the burden of disease and violence, according to a report released yesterday that provides the most detailed account ever of healthcare disparities in the state.
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The study from the state Executive Office of Health and Human Services examined trends in five regions and found, for example, that Hispanics living on the western edge of Massachusetts are the most likely to die from AIDS, with a death rate 10 times above the state average. In the swath of central Massachusetts that includes Worcester, black babies were less likely to reach their first birthdays than children anywhere in the state, with an infant mortality rate four times the state average.

“The thing I find most striking about the report is that disparities are very pervasive across the state,” said Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, health secretary in the administration of Governor Deval Patrick. “In previous reports, when you just look at the data for all of Massachusetts, people make assumptions” about where problems exist.”*

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