As a result of Sweden's efforts to eliminate poverty and to provide comprehensive health care, there are only small social class differences in infant mortality. The wider social differences in US infant mortality are a consequence of less consistent and thorough attempts at social equity and universal health care. US Black infant mortality continues to be twice that of Whites, and the excess may partially result from racism. Public health research should examine the role of racism in infant mortality and develop interventions to eliminate racism and its effects on the health of Black Americans.

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A national conference convened in May 2001 explored health disparities among minority women. It included 5 one-hour workshops that randomly assigned each participant to 1 of 4 groups. Groups generated recommendations on conference topics and from these identified priority recommendations. Trained facilitators guided groups through brainstorming and weighted voting processes; individual recommendations were submitted in writing. Participants generated 598 recommendations, 71 of them voted as priorities; these were analyzed to capture participants' "messages." Central themes focused on access issues and cultural incompetence as deterrents to the elimination of health disparities and on education, funding, and community-based, community-driven research as mechanisms for change. Strategies for change included reinventing or expanding the role of minority communities and changing health care itself and "how" it does its work. The essential element in all recommendations was community leadership and control.