Rafiki Coalition

Building a Healthier Community Since 1986

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“Black/African-American residents face the greatest social, economic, and environmental hardships and consequently have the highest rates of acute and chronic disease, injury, and disability and ultimately lower life expectancy.”

– San Francisco Health Improvement Partnership

Cancer

  • Although more white women in San Francisco develop breast cancer, more African-American women die from it.
  • African-Americans are less likely to survive for five years after being diagnosed with cancer than whites at all stages of diagnosis.
  • Tobacco smoke is linked to 60% of cancer deaths among African-American men in the western United States.

Diabetes

  • One in four African-American women over 55 years old has diabetes.
  • The San Francisco Department of Public Health estimates that over 40% of African American women over 45 years old have diabetes.
  • Hospitalizations due to diabetes for African-Americans are more than six times the rate for whites in San Francisco.

Heart Disease

Some leading causes of heart disease are obesity and lack of activity — these are correctable.

  • 60% of African-American adults in the city are overweight or obese, compared with 33% of white people.
  • African-Americans in San Francisco are hospitalized for heart disease at a rate almost four times the rate for all San Franciscans.
  • Black people have the highest death rate due to ischemic heart disease in San Francisco

Hepatitis C

Hepatitis C is a contagious liver disease caused by the Hepatitis C virus. Hepatitis C is transferred through blood-to-blood contact and from an infected person through unprotected sexual contact.

In 2010, San Francisco’s African-American population comprised 35% of all Hepatitis C infections in San Francisco, while only representing  7% of the city’s total population.

Learn more: sfhepc.org

High Blood Pressure

  • African-Americans in San Francisco are hospitalized for hypertension at almost four times the rate for all San Franciscans.
  • It is estimated that 47% of Black residents in San Francisco have high blood pressure, compared with 18% of white residents.
  • African-Americans have a 50% higher rate of heart disease death and almost twice as many strokes compared to white Americans.
  • The prevalence of high blood pressure among Blacks in the U.S. is among the highest in the world.

Asthma Asthma

  • African-American adults in the city are hospitalized for asthma at more than five times the rate for all adults in the city.
  • African-American children in the city are hospitalized for asthma at almost four times the rate for all children in the city.

HIV/AIDS

Read more here.

Building a Healthier Community Since 1986