The Department of Health and Human Service's report, "Trends in Racial and Ethnic-Specific Rates for the Health Status Indicators: United States, 1990-1998" traces the success of the US government's Healthy People 2000, a program intended to target and improve the health care needs of specific racial and ethnic groups in the United States over the course of the 1990's. Tracking performance by racial group in 17 categories, including cancer, poverty, suicide, infant mortality, and murder rates, the report reveals statistical improvement for almost every racial and ethnic group, save for American Indians and Native Alaskans, whose needs clearly remain unmet. Despite overall improvement in many areas, however, the authors of the report note that "relatively little progress was made toward the goal of eliminating health disparities ...." That said, one can't help but question the objectives of Healthy People 2010 which aim to "eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population."
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