Starting Early: Closing the Gap on Child Health Disparities

描述(申请人提供)：及早开始：缩小儿童健康差距：华盛顿特区-巴尔的摩儿童健康差距研究中心(中心)由霍华德大学儿科和儿童健康系和国家儿童医学中心合作成立，约翰·霍普金斯大学和哥伦比亚特区卫生部参与其中。该中心针对的是重点人群之一--儿童的健康差距。鉴于美国少数族裔儿童的数量不断增加，缺乏对儿童健康差距的研究令人担忧。鉴于美国低收入有色人种儿童的急剧增加，随着时间的推移，健康差距很可能会扩大，而不是缩小。这一领域的研究人员、学者和政策制定者需要就如何缩小这一人群的差距进行合作、交流和分享信息和想法。这一拟议项目的广泛、长期目标是减少这一人群的健康差距，并最终减少成年人的健康差距。拟议项目的具体目标是举行一次会议，以促进对话，并促进在这一领域发展新的观点和研究战略。该中心寻求资金，以主办一次会议并召集一批受邀的研究人员(1)界定儿童健康差距研究的“最新水平”；(2)确定儿童健康差距研究方面的差距；(3)确定儿童糖尿病/肥胖症、伤害/暴力和药物使用领域未来的研究方向。拟议的会议将汇集多达100名临床医生、流行病学家、公共卫生研究人员、社会学家、心理学家和其他儿童健康差距方面的研究人员。会议将针对以下领域的儿童健康差距：糖尿病/肥胖症、伤害/暴力和药物滥用；以及政策和执行问题。这将是一个包括小组发言人、讨论者和分组会议的互动会议。这将是在华盛顿特区地区举行的为期一天半的会议。会议记录将发表在同行评议的研究期刊上。此外，会议记录将在中心的网站和光盘上提供。妇女和少数群体在会议的发言者和与会者中都将有很好的代表。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): STARTING EARLY: CLOSING THE GAP ON CHILD HEALTH DISPARITIES: The DC-Baltimore Research Center on Child Health Disparities (Center) was formed as collaboration between the Howard University Department of Pediatrics and Child Health and Children's National Medical Center with the participation of Johns Hopkins University and the District of Columbia Department of Health. The Center targets health disparities in one of the priority populations-children. The lack of research on child health disparities is disturbing in light of the increasing numbers of minority children in the U.S. Given the dramatic increases in low-income children of color in the U.S., it is likely that health disparities will increase, rather than decrease, over time. There is a need for researchers, scholars, and policy makers in this area to collaborate, communicate, and share information and ideas as to how to reduce the disparities in this population. The broad, long-term objectives of this proposed project are to reduce health disparities in this population, and ultimately, the adult population. The specific aims of the proposed project are to hold a conference to facilitate dialogue and stimulate the development of new perspectives and research strategies in this area. The Center seeks funding to host a conference and convene an invited group of researchers in (1) defining the "state of the art" in child health disparities research; (2) identifying gaps in research on child health disparities; and (3) identifying future directions of research in the areas of childhood diabetes/obesity, injury/violence, and substance use. The proposed conference will bring together up to 100 clinicians, epidemiologists, public health researchers, sociologists, psychologists, and other researchers in child health disparities. The conference will target child health disparities in the following areas: diabetes/ obesity, injury/violence, and substance abuse; in addition to policy and implementation issues. It will be an interactive conference involving panel speakers, discussants, and breakout sessions. It will be a one-and-a-half day conference held in the Washington, D.C. area. Proceedings of the conference will be published in a peer reviewed research journal. In addition, the proceedings will be made available on the Center's website and on CDs. Women and minorities will be well represented among both presenters and attendees of the conference.