“Every small positive change we can make in ourselves, repays us with confidence in the future.” –Alice Walker

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, African Americans make up about 12.9% of the U.S. population, or 36.4 million individuals.

Even though we comprise a relatively small percentage of the population, as a minority group African Americans often suffer a greater percentage of incidence of many of the leading health conditions in the United States. Why is this? One potential answer to that question is health disparities.

According to the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities a division of the National Institutes of Health, the concept of health disparities is defined as differences in the occurrence, death rate, and burden of health conditions that exist
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