Common use of Alaska Clause in Contracts

Alaska. Natives have the highest incidence and mortality from colorectal cancer compared to all other populations except African-American males, whose mortality is slightly above that of Alaska Natives.25 The remainder of this chapter is devoted to Maryland- specific health and cancer disparities. Maryland data, where available, will be provided for African Americans, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Native American/Alaska Natives, and whites. Major factors contributing to cancer disparities in Maryland are dis- cussed, including geography, insurance status, socioe- conomic status, and age. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some emerging special populations in the state and provides recommendations to reduce or elim- inate cancer disparities in Maryland. This chapter uses the standard federal classification of race and ethnicity referred to as “OMB Directive 15.” For more than 20 years, the standards in the federal Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 have provided a common lan- guage to promote uniformity and comparability for data on race and ethnicity for population groups. These standards were developed to provide consistent data on race and ethnicity throughout the federal gov- ernment. Development of these data standards stemmed, in large measure, from new responsibilities to enforce civil rights laws. Data were needed to mon- itor equal access in housing, education, employment, and other areas for populations that historically had experienced discrimination and differential treatment because of their race or ethnicity. The standards are used not only in the census (which provides the data for the “denominator” for many measures), but also in household surveys, on administrative forms (e.g., school registration and mortgage lending applications), and in medical and other research. The categories rep- resent a social-political construct designed for collect- ing data on the race and ethnicity of broad population groups in this country and are not anthropologically or scientifically based. The standards have five categories for data on race: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and white. There are two categories for data on ethnicity: “Hispanic or Latino” and “Not Hispanic or Latino.” The definitions of these categories is as follows: