There has been an increasing interest in the improvement of health status indicators for minority populations in the United States. The 1985 "Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health" noted numerous disparities in the health status of ethnic minorities.

The governor established the Minority Health Care Task Force in 1992 as a result of the findings presented in the 1990 "Report on Minority Health in Mississippi," by the Mississippi State Department of Health. The Task Force was organized to assess the health status of the racial ethnic minority populations in the state of Mississippi. The report's findings revealed that if specific risk factors were reduced, it would greatly decrease morbidity and mortality rates would be greatly reduced in minority communities. The risk factors include:

• smoking
• inadequate nutrition
• lack of early identification of diseases
• lack of access to care health
• lack of professional education for health providers
• the lack of funding for services and programs which directly benefit minorities

The Task Force studied the committees' recommendations and set forth a number of recommendations that if implemented, would have greatly reduced the health disparities among racial and ethnic populations.

In December 1998, the state health officer authorized the formation of a steering committee to develop a structure for an Office of Minority Health within the Mississippi State Department of Health and to implement the Task Force recommendations. As a result, activities under Minority Health were initiated in March 2000; however, no funding was appropriated.

Subsequently, in September of 2003, the State Health Officer established the Office of Health Disparity Elimination. Since its inception, the office has been committed to eliminating health disparities based on sound scientific evidence which protects and promotes the health of all Mississippians.