Black men suffer far worse health than any other racial group in America. There are a number of reasons for this. They include racial discrimination, a lack of affordable health services, poor health education, cultural barriers, poverty, employment that does not carry health insurance, insufficient medical and social services catering for Black men.

• The life expectancy for a Black male child born in 2004 is 69.5 years, compared with 75.7 years for White males born the same year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

• Black men are more likely to get and die from prostate cancer than men of any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• A Black man has a 1-in-5 chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime and a 1-in-20 chance of dying from the disease.

• Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death for Black men, behind lung cancer.

• About 42 percent of Black men have high blood pressure, compared with 31 percent of White men, according to the American Heart Association.

• Cardiovascular disease overall was also more prevalent among Black men — 41 percent, compared with about 34 percent of White men.

• 45 percent of African American men do not have a doctor they see regularly.

• 28 percent of African Americans are uninsured, compared to 17 percent of Whites