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PR-03/31/2004: San Mateo County Celebrates Public Health Week

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 31, 2004 San Mateo County Health Services Agency Contact: Anand Chabra, MD, (650) 573-3469 SAN MATEO COUNTY CELEBRATES PUBLIC HEALTH WEEK "Eliminating Health Disparities: Communities Moving from Statistics to Solutions" Focus of National Public Health Week 2004 San Mateo, CA--The San Mateo County Health Services Agency is celebrating National Public Health Week April 4-10, with a health fair at Serramonte Center and a lecture on this year's theme, "Eliminating Health Disparities: Moving From Statistics to Solutions," by public health policy analyst, Bob Prentice. Today, the health status of racial and ethnic minority populations lags far behind non-minority populations. Racial and ethnic minority populations currently suffer substantially and disproportionately from adverse health conditions and inadequate access to health care services. Many of these health disparities have persisted for years despite major advances in public health, biotechnology, and economic wealth and prosperity and the overall improvement in the health status of the American population over the last century. For these reasons, the elimination of health disparities is a national goal to achieve by 2010. According to Dr. Scott Morrow, Health Officer with the San Mateo County Health Services Agency: "With the advent of better programs developed through research to serve our diverse population in San Mateo County, we have been able to implement more culturally appropriate services. However, health disparities arise for different reasons in different populations and we need to do a better job in understanding these underlying factors." The public is invited to attend the following county-sponsored Public Health Week events: Health Fair Cholesterol and blood pressure screenings and fitness, flexibility, and breath tests Serramonte Center, Daly City Saturday, April 3, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Contact: (650) 573-2033 Addressing Health Disparities Lecture by Bob Prentice, a Policy Analyst at the Public Health Institute in Berkeley and a San Francisco State University faculty member San Mateo County Health Services building, Room 100 225 37th Avenue, San Mateo Tuesday, April 6, noon - 1:00 p.m. Contact: (650) 573-2033 ###