The call came from James Rawlings (pictured), Health Committee chairman for the statewide NAACP as well as president of the Greater New Haven branch.

Rawlings made the call as the civil-rights organization issued a new report called Click here to read the full report, which drew on research by the Connecticut Health Foundation.

The report shows that from hypertension to diabetes, African-Americans "lead the state in the prevalence of most chronic illnesses."

The NAACP report identifies a wide range of causes for the racial disparities in health care in Connecticut, including: a perception among whites in Connecticut that all people receive equal access to health care; poverty; bias or cultural insensitivity on the part of health providers; lack of a black voice in the state advocating for change; lack of health insurance; "lifestyle behaviors."

"We can not continue as two communities, one white and healthy and the other black and ill," the report declares.

The NAACP's Rawlings noted that a national study by the Commonwealth Fund found that while Connecticut's ranks near the top (seventh) in overall health care among the 50 states, it's in the bottom half when it comes to breast cancer, infant mortality and other diseases that disproportionately impact African-Amercans.

"Those two coming together was astounding and alarming," Rawlings said.

Infant mortality in particular is reemerging as a public-health issue in New Haven. A community campaign in the 1980s and early '90s dramatically slashed the incidence of infant mortality in New Haven. New statistics show infant mortality back on the rise in New Haven; in fact the city now has the highest incidence in the state again. Black babies in particular are losing their lives at disproportionately high rates. The fatal infant and mortality rate in town nearly doubled in New Haven from 2001 to 2004. (Click here to read a recent story on that subject.)

What particularly struck Rawlings, he said, is that neighboring New England states are doing better than Connecticut -- and those state governments have offices of minority affairs. He said the NAACP will push for Connecticut to create one, using proceeds from its settlement in a lawsuit against tobacco companies. "We do all the wrong things around health care" with that money right now, Rawlings said.

The office's mission, in the words of the NAACP report: "address minority health issues and healthcare inequities to review legislative policies and bills relative to unintended negative outcomes and to coordinate the various state and initiatives to reduce and eliminate health disparities and inequalities in the State of Connecticut."

Other suggested fixes in the report:

• "Merging the departments of public health and social services at the state level in order to
integrate goals, improve program and system outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs."

• "Encouraging the Connecticut Business and Industry Association to support and invest in
health prevention and promotion efforts in order to reduce costs and increase economic
stability of this state."

• "Establishing academic medical center, Schools of Public Health, and Nurse School and
other allied health schools accountability in order to promote the hiring of minority
clinical staff and training of future care providers and leaders."

• "Marrying healthcare licensing and approvals with diversity initiatives in order to promote
Health Care outcome equality."

And, finally, the Connecticut's NAACP branches would become that needed new "voice" alerting the black community to health-care challenges and pushing the state for reform.