Washington When it comes to health care, all people are not equal. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a black baby is twice as likely to die in the first year of life as a white baby. Native Americans are three times more likely to have diabetes than whites. And Vietnamese women are five times as likely to suffer from cervical cancer as their white counterparts.

Such sobering statistics have prompted the U.S. government and the American Public Health Association, located in Washington, to band together to correct the disparities. "Despite all the progress we have made in health care...too many people are still left behind in our system," said David Satcher, M.D., U.S. surgeon general and assistant secretary of HHS. "As a nation, we can do better."

The two entities have put together an alliance that will coordinate a steering committee of 25 people from a variety of arenas, including business, labor, churches, education and ethnic groups. By November of this year, the committee plans to create a blueprint for action, which it will turn over to a larger group of 300 people who will decide how to implement it in 2001.