By Maya Rhodan
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The Department of Health and Human Services has updated its standards for cultural competency in health care, hoping to narrow the racial and ethnic health disparities common throughout the United States.

“This provides another opportunity to significantly improve health disparities,” Dr. Howard Koh, the agency’s Assistant Secretary for Health, said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Care needs to honor culture, it needs to be effective, understandable and respectful. Care needs to be delivered with ‘CLAS.’”

National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care – also known as CLAS Standards— serve as guidelines for facilitating “culturally and linguistically appropriate health services.”

The new standards were announced last week by HHS’s Office of Minority Health at a gathering of health care organizations the Kaiser Family Foundation office in Washington.

In 2000, under the Bush administration, the Office of Minority Health published the first set of standards, which were updated in 2010, to better cater the health care system to the nation’s increasingly diverse population.

The recently updated standards include 15 guidelines for effective cultural communication between patients and caregivers, including a “principal standard” that encourages hospitals to provide service that is “responsive to diverse cultural health beliefs and practices, preferred languages, health literacy, and other communication needs.”

Other standards include:

• Recruiting more culturally diverse leadership staff

• Offering language assistance at no cost to the patient

• Collecting and maintaining accurate demographic data

• Partnering with the community to design cultural and linguistic appropriate policies.

As the U.S. population becomes more diverse, with Whites becoming a minority in the U.S. by 2050, cultural competence in health care is being considered crucial to ending health disparities.

And those disparities are striking.

Black babies are 2.3 times more likely to die in infancy, Asians are 2.5 times more likely to develop liver cancer, Latinos are three times more likely to be uninsured and Black men are seven times more likely to be diagnosed with HIV than their White counterparts.

Currently, seven of the 15 most populated cities are majority minority yet African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asians continue to receive lower quality care than their White counterparts according to National Healthcare Disparities reports.

“Health is the most important thing we have regardless of our race, socioeconomic status,” said Dr. Nadine Gracia, director of the office of minority health at the Department of Health and Human Services. “Nothing more essential to opportunity than good health.”

In a 2002 report on Cultural Competence in Health Care presented by the Commonwealth Fund, a New York based foundation, states, “ As we become a more ethnically and racially diverse nation, health care systems and providers need to reflect on and respond to patients’ varied perspectives, values, beliefs, and behaviors about health and well-being. Failure to understand and manage sociocultural differences may have significant health consequences on minority groups in particular.”

A huge barrier between patients and health care providers occurs among non-English speakers. According to the National Health Disparity Report, Spanish-speakers are more likely to not have health insurance and are also more likely to report poor communication with nurses.

“Culture is language – it’s the way that we through signs, customs, beliefs, practices present ourselves to other people, understand other people,” said Leon Rodriguez, director of the office of civil rights at HHS. “Proper communication is not just a civil rights issue, it’s about delivering the best quality care—this is all about delivering good care, this all about good business.”

Although helpful, the standards are not mandatory; they are merely a set of guidelines put in place to assist the medical community better serve people of color.

Studies have shown that cultural competency training improves the patient-healthcare provider relationship. However only six states have legislation that requires or suggests cultural competence training: Maryland, Washington, Connecticut, New Mexico, California, and New Jersey.

Five states, including Illinois and Florida where 15 and 20 percent of the total populations are uninsured respectively, have vetoed or denied such legislation. Iowa, Colorado, and Oregon also followed suit.

The authors of the standards believe that if they can get hospitals and health care providers to adopt their standards, both the patients and the medical community will be better served.

“We hope over time this will be good for practice and good business,” Koh said. “If every organization can at least start by saying we embrace these values and get leadership to infuse these values throughout everyday work, we can begin to gather more data that show that this is not only good practice, but it’s good for business.”

By Krishana Davis
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper

(NNPA) The fashion community is in an uproar over Vogue Netherlands’ attempt to pay homage to Black icons in a feature with a White model in Blackface in its May 2013 issue.

The editorial “Heritage Heroes” showcases white, blond model Querelle Jansen as American-born French singer and dancer Josephine Baker and electrifying Jamaican singer and model Grace Jones. Jansen is pictured in the spread with Blackface and a funky, black Afro wig and a cone-shaped high-top hair style in the other photo.

The feature was designed to underscore the contributions of Baker and Jones to the fashion world.

Fashionita.com, a leading fashion blog, said, “A couple of alternative ideas: use a model who already looks something like Grace Jones or Josephine Baker without face paint. Or just, you know, don’t paint a white person’s face Black ever? Why is this even something we have to keep pointing out? European editors and stylists especially, it seems, are really not getting it.”

Blackface is not uncommon even in 2013 in the Netherlands. During the winter holiday a Black slave, or helper, named Zwarte Piet, accompanies Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) on the delivery of treats and presents to the children. Today, White people often dress in Blackface to pose as Zwarte Piet during holiday celebrations.

Blackface has been a recurring issue in many of European fashion publications.

Numéro magazine was recently under fire for its March 2013 issue, placing model Ondria Hardin, 16, in an editorial “African Queen.” Her skin is painted black. The editorial was shot by photographer Sebastian Kim. In 2010, Numéro magazine published a similar editorial with model Constance Jablonski in black and blond Afro wigs alongside a Black toddler.

In 2009, Vogue Paris published an editorial with model Lara Stone dressed in black paint from head to toe. The 14-page spread was styled by then-editor Carine Roitfeld, who left Conde Nast to launch her own publication CR Fashion Book, now in its second year.

By Maya Rhodan
NNPA Washington Correspondent

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Although President Obama has yet to declare an end to the 40-year-old war on drugs, he has placed the weight of his office on viewing drug addiction as more than just a criminal justice issue.

Last Wednesday, Obama released his 2012 National Drug Control Strategy, which recognizes substance abuse as a “chronic disease of the brain that can be prevented and successfully treated.”

The president said, “…This Administration remains committed to a balanced public health and public safety approach to drug policy. This approach is based on science, not ideology – and scientific research suggests that we have made real progress.”

Richard Nixon declared America’s drug problem a public safety issue in 1972 and in the time since, the nation has remained the leader in illicit drug use and incarceration.

In 2011, a reported 22.5 million Americans over 12 have used illicit drugs, representing about 9 percent of the population, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and health. About 10 percent of Black people were reported as having problems with substance abuse, compared to 8.2 percent of Whites.

That’s about 4 million African Americans and 11 million Whites. In terms of the criminal consequences for involvement with drugs, however, the numbers flip.

Currently, America has the highest incarceration rate in the world , with African Americans representing about 45 percent of the total U.S. prison population, compared to 29 percent for Whites and 20 percent for Hispanics.

Despite drug use rates comparable to Whites, Blacks represent 38 percent of those arrested for drug offenses and 59 percent of those in state prisons for drug offenses.

Get tough strategies, such mandatory minimum sentencing and harsher punishment for crack cocaine use than for powder cocaine use, has contributed to the mass incarceration of African Americans that some are calling the “New Jim Crow.”

However, President Obama and Director of the National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske have outlined new tactics to approach the drug problem with an emphasis on prevention and treatment rather than just incarceration.

On a telephone conference call with reporters on Tuesday, a day before the strategy was publicly announced, Kerlikowske said, “It’s a public health issue, not just a criminal justice issue. Law enforcement plays a vital role, but we can’t arrest our way out of the drug problem.”

The national strategy promotes prevention by educating young people through community-based and national programs such as the Drug-Free Communities Support Program, as well as providing prevention strategies to law enforcement agencies, community organizations, and employers.

“Every dollar invested in schools has the potential to save up to $18 in costs based in substance abuse problems,” Kerlikowske said.

The strategy calls for an expansion of services that allow health care professionals to intervene at early stages of substance abuse. There is also a push for an increase in access to treatment for substance abuse problems. In 2011, among the 21.6 million Americans who needed treatment for substance abuse only 2.3 million received it.

“Early detection and treatment of a substance abuse problem by a health care professional is more effective and less costly than dealing with a chronic substance use disorder,” the strategy fact sheet observed.

The Affordable Care Act aids in the expansion of care to those with substance abuse problems by requiring insurance companies to provide coverage that treats substance abuse as it would any other chronic disease.

The Strategy will also impact criminal justice efforts by:

• Working to implement criminal justice reforms such as drug courts that send offenders to treatment instead of prison;
• Consider innovations in programs that connect offenders with community services to free up law enforcement resources and reduce rates of incarceration; and
• Expand global drug prevention initiatives. According to a recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the Office of National Drug Control Policy hasn’t made progress in achieving the majority of the goals of its 2010 Strategy, given overlap and an increase in marijuana use among 12 to 17-year-olds.

The GAO criticizes the ONDCP’s approach to abuse prevention, which is exacerbated by the reality of treatment and prevention programs being spread across a number of federal agencies that provide “overlapping services.”

In the report, the ONDCP agreed with the GAO’s suggestion and stated it will work with agencies to better coordination between them.

Although the changes in the updated strategy do not mark an official end to the war on drugs – something Kerlikowske says would not be a wise policy – they bring hope to organizations such as the NAACP which has been working to quell the mass incarceration of African Americans as a result of drug policies.

Hilary Shelton, NAACP senior vice president for policy and the director of the Washington Bureau of NAACP, said this move by the Obama administration “begins to reframe the pathway in our country as we address the issue of drugs.”

He said, “Our country is shifting and that is a good thing,” Shelton says. “I’m happy to see we have an administration that gets it, and a drug czar that is working to fix the drug problem in a real way.”

By George E. Curry
NNPA Editor-in-Chief

PRETORIA, South Africa (NNPA) – Human rights activist Jesse L. Jackson has been presented the Companions of O.R. Tambo Award, the highest award a non-South African can receive, for his extensive efforts to held end apartheid in the country.

Jackson, founder and president of the Chicago-based RainbowPUSH Coalition, accepted the award Saturday from President Jacob Zuma at the Presidential Guesthouse here. Jackson’s wife, Jacqueline, and two of his children, Santita and Yusef, accompanied him to the capital city to accept the prestigious honor.

The former aide to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was cited “for dedicating his life to challenge societies and governments to recognize that all people are born equal, and that everyone is in equal measure entitled to life, liberty, prosperity and human rights.” He was honored “For his excellent contribution to the fight against apartheid.”

The award was named after Oliver Reginald Tambo, the former chairman of the African National Congress (ANC) who helped end White minority rule in South Africa 19 years ago. The award is presented annually to “eminent foreign nationals for friendship shown to South Africa.” The official description of the award says recipients are “concerned primarily with matters of peace, cooperation, international solidarity and support and is integral to the execution of South Africa’s international and multinational relations.”

The official program notes, “Jackson first visited South Africa in 1979 following the death of Steve Biko. He attracted huge crowds at his rallies in Soweto, where he denounced South Africa’s oppressive system of apartheid… Upon his return to the United States, Jackson intensified efforts to mobilize opposition to the ‘terrorist state’ of South Africa and reshape US policy on the country.

“From the outset, Jackson strongly opposed President Ronald Reagan’s policy of constructive engagement with the apartheid regime. He worked tirelessly to mobilize public opposition to the USA’s stance. Jackson entered the 1984 Presidential race with the anti-apartheid struggle at the center of his foreign policy agenda.”

The program recounted Jackson’s 1985 meeting with Pope John Paul II in which he invited the Pontiff to visit South Africa to help bring about majority rule. He also lobbied Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to cut diplomatic ties to South Africa. In addition, Jackson urged the U.S. government to fund resisters.

“He also called on Harvard and other universities to divest from South Africa,” the program stated. “In 1986, at the invitation of several African governments, Jackson led a delegation of activists, business representatives and academics to eight African countries, including the southern African ‘frontline states.’ The focus of the trip was to mobilize opposition to the apartheid regime.”

A frequent traveler to the continent, Jackson was in South Africa on Feb. 11, 1990 when Nelson Mandela emerged from prison after a 27-year confinement. Mandela would play a key role in the peaceful transition from minority rule to a democracy, becoming the first Black African elected president of South Africa. In speeches here at universities, the U.S. Embassy and a Black church, Jackson talked about his front-row seat to history and warned that although Black South Africans have finally won their political freedom, the next goal should be eliminating economic inequity, considered the worst in the world.

Also presented with a Tambo Award was Percival Patterson, former Prime Minister and ex-chairman of the People’s National Party (PNP) in Jamaica. Patterson was cited “For his support of the ANC and exceptional contribution to the struggle for liberation and a democratic South Africa.”

The official program noted, “A passionate opponent of apartheid, he was an ardent supporter of South Africa’s liberation movement. In 1987, during the time Patterson was the chairman of the PNP and Michael Manley was its President, the ANC was invited to attend the PNP’s Founder’s Day banquet celebrating the 15th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. Then president of the ANC, Oliver Tambo, addressed the occasion in Kingston, Jamaica on 4 July 1987.”

When Patterson was serving as Prime Minister, Nelson and Minnie Mandela visited Jamaica, where they received strong backing.

Other Tambo award winners were: Dina Forti, who helped start an anti-apartheid movement in Italy and Enuga Reedy, former head of the United Nation’s Center Against Apartheid.

Winners – who were not allowed to give acceptance speeches – were presented a neck badge, a lapel rosette, a miniature medallion and a wooden ceremonial walking stick carved in the image of a mole snake. According to African mythology, the mole snake, called a majola, visits babies in the spirit of benevolence, protecting them from harm and preparing them for success in life.

Jackson said in an interview, “I am overwhelmed with honor and appreciation. It represents momentum for our African-American struggle merging with the Free South Africa struggle. Both struggles were parallel.”