Health Policy Responsiveness: Lessons Learned from Maryland and Prince George's County.

Effective, timely, and intentional policy efforts can significantly impact and improve the public's health and reduce racial and ethnic health disparities across the nation. Creating and implementing responsive policies at the state and county level is essential to supporting community efforts to improve health behaviors and health outcomes, particularly for communities of color who bear the brunt of disease risk and negative health outcomes. Using policy examples from the State of Maryland and Prince George's County, the largest and wealthiest predominately African-American county in the USA, this case study highlights the importance of state and county policy action when presented with opportunities to affect long-lasting, positive change.

News coverage of diet-related health disparities experienced by black Americans: a steady diet of misinformation.

Compared to their white counterparts, black Americans experience greater morbidity and mortality across a range of diet-related diseases and conditions, including heart disease, type II diabetes, cancer, stroke, and obesity. Many factors influence dietary behaviors among blacks, including those associated with socioeconomics, culture, racism, psychology, and health care quality and access. However, when reporting about the health status and dietary behavior of black Americans, the mainstream print media pursues a largely one-dimensional focus on behavioral and cultural factors.