Dear Community:

As we head into the final days before Christmas, I want to pause and wish you and your loved ones a joyful, peaceful holiday season. This time of year reminds us how deeply connected we are—and how important it is to care for one another, especially in the face of ongoing challenges.

At the Center for Closing the Health Gap, our work is guided by a simple but powerful truth: We Must Save Us. Every day, that mantra calls us to show up for our communities, amplify trusted voices, and confront the racial and ethnic health disparities that continue to impact lives in Cincinnati and across the nation.

Each week, the articles we share highlight these realities, along with the progress, solutions, and resilience driving change. Thank you for staying informed, engaged, and committed to this work.

Wishing you a safe and healthy holiday week ahead!



Renee Mahaffey Harris

President & CEO

The Challenge of Trust in Public Health Institutions Among Communities of Color: Where Do We Go From Here?

Trust is considered a necessary foundation on which public health institutions build programs to protect and improve the health of populations, but it involves a delicate balancing act. Black, Hispanic, and other US communities of color face substantial longstanding and ongoing disparities that profoundly affect health and well-being across the life course, including in life expectancy and infant mortality as well as hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and cancer deaths. National and regional health institutions—such as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local public health agencies—have the expertise and resources to understand and ameliorate these disparities but have often struggled to engage communities of color in medical research, prevention activities, and health care interventions. Much of this problem is traceable not to lack of interest—communities of color are intensely driven to protect and nurture their own positive health outcomes—but to lack of trust in public health science and institutions.

How do we address health disparities if we can’t prove they exist?

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has emphasized the need for better health data to address persistent health disparities for at least forty years, starting with the 1985 Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black and Minority Health and the resulting establishment of the Office of Minority Health (OMH) in 1986. OMH is charged with providing national leadership, resources, and coordination to improve the health of people of color and eliminate health disparities. In 2010, the Affordable Care Act directed the Secretary of HHS to promulgate uniform data collection standards for race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability. The resulting HHS guidance acknowledged that “while data alone cannot reduce disparities,” it is foundational to addressing them.

Disparities in health care predicted to worsen as ACA health insurance subsidies end

North Carolina’s infant mortality rate, already one of the worst in the nation, will continue to rise with the expiration of tax credits that kept ACA insurance coverage affordable, an OBGYN said Tuesday. Black babies in North Carolina die at three times the rate of white infants, a key factor that drives the state’s high overall infant death rate. 

Federal tax credits approved in 2022 that subsidized Affordable Care Act premiums are expiring, and ACA health insurance marketplace premiums are rising. The tax credits made health insurance affordable for millions of Americans. Now, millions are expected to drop their health insurance because they can’t afford it. More than 975,000 North Carolinians have health insurance through an ACA marketplace health plan this year, compared to 670,223 in 2022, according to KFF. A U.S. Senate vote to extend the subsidies failed last week. House Speaker Mike Johnson has scotched a vote in his chamber on extending ACA subsidies, States Newsroom reported. Republican leaders have said the subsidies are too expensive to continue. Dr. Rob Davidson, executive director of the Committee to Protect Health Care and an emergency physician in west Michigan, said he blames leaders in Washington for failing to help people keep their coverage. 

New ACS Cancer Disparities Report: Major Differences Persist in Mortality Burden

In new research on the status of cancer disparities in the United States, American Cancer Society (ACS) scientists report higher cancer mortality rates among adults living in rural areas, certain congressional districts, and among those with lower socioeconomic status. The study also shows Black and American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) people continue to bear a substantially higher burden of cancer deaths, overall and from major cancers. The findings are published today in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, the flagship journal of ACS.

Healthcare Leader in England: How neighbourhood health can close the gap in health inequalities

Neighbourhood health is gaining energy and support across health and care systems following the launch of the 10 Year Health Plan. All three ‘shifts’ set out in the plan – hospital to community, sickness to prevention, analogue to digital – could come to life through neighbourhood working. The focus on cross-system team-work, community connection and gaining insights from data, all give hope that new forms of public service delivery can become a reality. But in the midst of so much change, it’s crucial that we use and build on what we already know about collaborative, localised working so we can accelerate the pace and impact of change. Drawing on the work with NHS England to develop frameworks and resources to tackle health inequalities, we’ve outlined four themes to help neighbourhood teams navigate health inequalities and plan effective interventions.