[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2203]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2203]]
         HEALTH PROFESSIONS EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS ACT OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. LOUIS STOKES

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 13, 1998

  Mr. STOKES. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 1754, the Health 
Professions Education Partnerships Act of 1998. This measure 
reauthorizes the health professions and nursing training and education 
programs contained within titles VII and VIII of the Public Health 
Service Act. S. 1754 is a bipartisan effort to strengthen these 
critical programs--which do so much to provide a workforce that is 
targeted to address the Nation's critical health care needs.
  Among the programs reauthorized by this legislation are the: Minority 
Centers of Excellence Program; Exceptional Financial Need Scholarships; 
Faculty Loan Repayment Program; Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students 
and the Office of Minority Health at the Department of Health and Human 
Services. These and other critical programs provide valuable 
institutionally-based training opportunities for health professions 
students in primary care as well as individual grant and scholarship 
support for disadvantaged health professions students.
  Mr. Speaker, while every racial and ethnic group experiences some 
health disparity, African Americans and other underserved Americans 
continue to suffer with disproportionately higher rates of death and 
disease. In recent years, we have seen unprecedented advances in 
biomedical research, the diagnosis of disease and the delivery of 
health care services. However, the African American community and other 
communities of color have not fully nor equally benefited from these 
new discoveries. In fact, African Americans and other minorities 
continue to face historical barriers to good health, including the lack 
of access to quality health care.
  More than a decade after the Secretary of the Department of Health 
and Human Services' 1985 Task Force Report on Black and Minority 
Health, African Americans continue to: suffer with disproportionate 
rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke and HIV/
AIDS; experience a rate of infant mortality that is twice that of 
whites; live shorter lives than the general population and endure 
70,000 excess deaths every year. This health crisis is further 
exacerbated by the severe underrepresentation of minorities in the 
health professions, the fact that there has been very little growth in 
the number of minority medical school matriculants and by current 
efforts to roll back affirmative action.
  While recent reports predict a general oversupply of physicians and 
other health care providers, this is not the case where minority health 
care professionals are concerned. For example, while African Americans 
and Hispanic Americans comprise 13 percent and 11 percent of the United 
States population, they represent only 3.2 percent and 4.4 percent of 
the Nation's practicing physicians. This is significant because studies 
show that minority health professionals are more likely to serve in 
underserved communities, providing a disproportionate amount of care to 
the most vulnerable among us--the poor and the underserved.
  It is for these reasons that I urge my colleagues to support S. 1754. 
The Health Professions Education Partnerships Act health is an 
absolutely essential link to helping the Nation to effectively address 
the shocking disparities in the status of minority health.
  Vote ``yes'' on S. 1754.

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