This issue of Family & Community Health discusses the chronic health conditions of diabetes and obesity. As shown in the articles in the issue, both of these conditions are associated with health disparities. A major goal in the United States is to eliminate health disparities by providing more accessible, affordable, and appropriate services to vulnerable or high-risk populations. Healthy People 2020 has as its mission having a society in which all people live long, healthy lives. Two of the overarching goals of this ambitious document are to "achieve health equity, eliminate disparities, and improve the health of all groups; and to create social and physical environments that promote good health for all."1 This goal should not be thought of as only limited to people who live in the United States. In many, if not most, nations of the world, the divide between people who have access to health care and those who do not is wide. Also, there are in all countries people who have access to health care, but who do not take advantage of what they know about healthy behaviors or use the care that they can afford and access.

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Vulnerability is linked to health disparities; what this means is that vulnerability results from the interacting effects of many internal and external factors over which people have little or no control. For example, a person may have some biological limitations that are intensified by the environment in which he or she lives. A good example would be a person with asthma who lives in an area where air pollution is an issue. Low income or poverty is often associated with vulnerability to health disruptions. Persons may not have transportation to access health care, or they may not have the ability to leave a job to seek care.

In this issue, articles talk about the relationship between diabetes and obesity. Examples are given of programs that aim to take health care to the people who need it. Often clinics in the local community; mobile units that go from one community to another; one stop shopping for family health care; teaching children, youth, and adults how to locate, purchase, and eat more nutritious foods on their budget, and how to prepare their traditional foods in more nutritious ways are examples of how to reduce some of the health disparities that can lead to obesity and diabetes.

Jeanette Lancaster

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