Life
Author advocates for better health choices among African Americans
Heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.
Dr. Michelle A. Gourdine (pictured), observed these health problems in her family members, friends and fellow church members.
As a physician, she has observed that these issues are not restricted to her own personal sphere, their impact on the black community is widespread, and disproportionately so compared to that of other racial and ethnic groups.
African Americans tend to suffer at the highest rates from the main chronic illnesses that kill Americans.
African Americans have the highest rate of high blood pressure of all racial and ethnic groups; black people are about two times more likely than white people to have diabetes; the life expectancy for blacks, at 73, is five years shorter than whites.