Conference Objective is to help women of color in MILWAUKEE to develop a healthy lifestyle regimen while taking time for themselves. Often, women take care of their husbands, children, pets, households and careers before they take time for themselves. This must stop!

Conference Goal is to reach 50% of the 180,000 women of color between 30-50 yrs in greater Milwaukee with our It’s All About You” message.  Our attendance goal is 250-400 attendees. We hope this conference will have a positive impact on the statistics for these disparities among women of color.  By introducing healthy lifestyle concepts and giving tips on how to maintain the healthy lifestyle regimen the negative numbers can be reduced.

Of the 273.6 million people living in the United States in 1999, almost 140 million are female. Of this number, 39.6 million females are members of racial and ethnic minority groups. Although these women experience many of the same health problems as Caucasian women, as a group they are in poorer health, they use fewer health services, and they continue to suffer disproportionately from premature death, disease, and disabilities. Many also face tremendous social, economic, cultural, and other barriers to achieving optimal health.

Health disparity is defined as a higher burden of illness, injury, disability, or morality experienced by one population group in relation to another. Racial differences in socioeconomic status, residential conditions and medical care are some examples of important contributors to racial differences in disease. Racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower-quality health care than Whites do, even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable, says a 2002 report of the Institute of Medicine. In the State of Wisconsin the gap is even greater in some areas according to the most recent Minority Health Report issued January 2008.

Girlfriends “It’s All About You Health Disparities Conference was established to educate its members and our communities on the causes of these disparities and work to provide strategies to eliminate them by advancing understanding of the development and progression of diseases that contribute to them.