Health Disparities and a Call for Health Justice: Next Stop: Inequality Street

The data on health disparities is heartbreaking.  It illuminates the fundamental inequity distribution of resources in the United states. We can see these disparities along a multitude of variables including place.  Zip code, for example,  is greater predictor of overall health than race and genetics .  This disparity, often occurring within a very short physical distance, is illustrated very clearly in a series of maps produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

According to the RWJ foundation “In New York City, life expectancy can differ by nearly 10 years in the 6 subway stops that separate East Harlem from Murray Hill.”

 

We can see the same effect in a few subway stops in Chicago- life expectancy can range up to a 16 years difference (69 versus 85) depending on which stop you get off and community you live in.