Education and lifestyle changes are high on the list of necessary health care improvements, said former U.S. Surgeon Gen. David Satcher while speaking on campus Monday.
Satcher spoke on campus about the disparities among races and ethnicities in health care. The discussion took place in Conrad Hall in front of about 250 MSU students, staff, faculty and health care professionals.
He said the United States is becoming a more diverse nation every day.
“In order for it to become a strength, we have to embrace it,” the doctor said.
Satcher, who was surgeon general from 1998-2002 under presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, said his beliefs on health care sometimes led to disagreements with his former bosses.
“I think it’s the role of the surgeon general to speak to the people and if you do that, you are going to disagree sometimes with the president and the Senate,” he said.
He said the needle exchange program he helped improve was sometimes criticized, but it reduced the spread of HIV and did not increase drug use.
He also said one out of four black people do not have proper access to health care.
He said black people are about 25 percent more likely to die from a heart attack than a white person and although white women have the greatest risk of breast cancer, black women have the greatest mortality rate from the disease.
The reason for this is because minorities do not have immediate access to health care, he said.
He said discussion on the disparities between races was heightened when the World Health Organization ranked the United States 37 among 189 countries in health care in 2000.
“We have major access to health care, still so many people are left out,” Satcher said.
The environmental quality of minorities needs to improve, which requires people to change their lifestyles, he said.
He said fewer than 10 percent of American people consume at least five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
When Satcher asked the audience how many people consume at least that amount, many people raised their hands.
“Well I would expect you to,” he said. “This is Michigan State University after all.”
Veena Rao, a health studies senior, said the topic is important and discussion might improve the situation.
“We’re the most industrialized nation and we have too many people uninsured,” she said. “I think a lot of people who are uninsured are minorities and immigrants and this is who this is targeting.”
Dr. Kenya Sekoni, who is in the Sparrow Family Practice Residency, said she’s glad the topic has finally come into discussion.
“I am interested in what he has to say,” the 1995 MSU College of Human Medicine graduate said. “It’s just amazing to me in 2002, we’re actually going to see it in written form, when we know this has been a problem for years.”
