E/CN.4/2005/21 page 13 began her presentation by asserting that it was well recognized and documented that minority groups all over the world were disadvantaged because of social, economic and cultural forces that marginalized them. 74. Infant mortality rate (IMR) was defined as the number of infant deaths (below 1 year of age) per 1,000 live births in a given year. Studies had shown IMR to be a good indicator for gauging the health status of a population group and was also important for its impact on life expectancy at birth. Most developed nations had seen declines of IMR to levels of 10 per 1,000 live births with life expectancy of over 75 years by 2000. The degree of decline of IMR across developing countries had been slow and less marked, with levels of IMRs still at 100 per 1,000 in more than 39 countries in Africa and the Caribbean region. The same disparity had been observed within nations across racial ethnic and minority groups, both in the developed and developing world. 75. In recent times, these disparities had attracted a lot of research, especially in the United States. This research had generated evidence that people of African descent had consistently higher IMRs, owing to very high rates of prematurity and infections, and therefore low health status and lower life expectancy at birth than their counterparts. 76. Dr. Nantulya explained that maternal mortality rate (MMR) was defined as the number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in a given year. The 1900s had seen a marked decline in MMR, from 150 deaths per 100,000 live births in 1950 to 57 in 1998 worldwide. Disparities had again consistently been observed across racial/ethnic and minority groups. MMRs were high in the low social-economic income groups and much higher still in the developing nations, where it is at present 100 times that in the United States. Studies there indicated that black women had higher MMR than the national average. 77. People of African descent had a genetic predisposition to higher and more severe blood pressure resulting in more complications, which also occurred at a younger age. Black elderly women had a particularly high incidence of stroke. Diabetes negatively affected heart disease, increasing risk of disease and death. Cancer was diagnosed more and caused ill health and death globally. Disparity in medical care coverage prevented access to preventive programmes and treatment to control disease or prevented complications and eventual death. 78. The scourge of HIV/AIDS and its devastating effects on the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa was well documented. By 2001, 40 million people were living with HIV/AIDS and 3 million had died from the disease that year. Recent data indicated that, in developed countries, HIV infection was increasing more rapidly in the black and other minority populations because of high-risk behaviour. The struggle to get treatment to the suffering poor was ongoing, while patients from developed countries had had full access to treatment for more than 10 years. 79. Research and experiments continued to show clearly that disparities in health status existed among different population groups and that people of African descent were worst affected. Strong and persistent policy advocacy was paramount globally, regionally and at country level to address socio-economic inequalities and to set up action plans to reverse this trend.