Over the last five decades, the gap between the haves and have-nots has consistently increased in the realm of access to healthcare services among different sectors of society: from quality of healthcare services, access to health supplies, technologies, and usage of health information and health prevention services, to vulnerability to certain types of diseases and health outcomes. Against this backdrop this edited collection ¿ the first of its kind ¿ uses the framework of communication in order to understand the underlying dimensions of health disparities and the communicative processes, policies, methodologies, and messages that are deployed with the goal of increasing access, improving quality, and addressing the underlying causes.

Contents: Mohan J. Dutta/Gary L. Kreps: Reducing Health Disparities: Communication Interventions ¿ Ashley P. Duggan/Ylisabyth S. Bradshaw: Shifting Communication Challenges to Education and Reflective Practice: Communication to Reduce Disparities Toward Patients With Disabilities ¿ Elaine Hsieh: Health Literacy and Patient Empowerment: The Role of Medical Interpreters in Bilingual Health Communication ¿ Melinda R. Weathers/Gina Castle Bell: Assessing Health Disparities Through Communication Competence, Social Support, and Coping Among Hispanic Lay Caregivers for Loved Ones With Alzheimer¿s Disease ¿ Christina Jones/Mohan J. Dutta: Culture-Centered Constructions Among Health Providers in Rural Indiana: Setting Agendas for Interventions ¿ Tamar Ginossar: Promoting Women Leadership as a Strategy for Reducing Health and Digital Disparities in Latino/a Immigrant Communities ¿ Patrick J. Dillon/Ambar Basu: Preventing HIV/AIDS Through a Culture-Centered Health Campaign: The Sonagachi HIV/AIDS Intervention Program ¿ Nurit Guttman/Anat Jaffe/Seffefe Aycheh: Challenges and Dilemmas in Developing Health Communication Programs for Ethiopian Immigrants in Israel: The Tene Briut Health Promotion Organization ¿ Elisia L. Cohen/Robin C. Vanderpool/Rick Crosby/Seth M. Noar/Wallace Bates/Tom Collins/Katharine J. Head/Margaret McGladrey/Baretta Casey: 1-2-3 Pap: A Campaign to Prevent Cervical Cancer in Eastern Kentucky ¿ Torill Bull/Maurice B. Mittelmark/Peter Sanbian Gmatieyindu: Vulnerable Old Women of Northern Ghana at Risk of Being Ostracized for Witchcraft: How Wise Village Leadership Brings Them Back From the Brink ¿ Robin Kelly/Al Hannans/Gary L. Kreps: A Case Study of the Community Liaison Pilot Program: A Culturally Oriented, Participatory Pilot Health Education and Communication Program to Decrease Disparities in Minority HIV Vaccine Trial Participation ¿ Gary L. Kreps/Melinda M. Villagran/Janey Trowbridge/Paula Baldwin/Yolanda Barbier/Amy Chang/Jung-mi Jun/Megan Tucker/Autumn Saxton-Ross/Sieglinde Friedman: Evaluation of the Influence of an Urban Community Park Revitalization on African American Youth Physical Activity ¿ Muhiuddin Haider/Nicole I. Wanty: Reducing Health Disparities Using Health-Communication Interventions and Community Engagement ¿ Deborah S. Ballard-Reisch/Rick McNary/Pamela O'Neal/Ashley Archiopoli/Bobby Rozzell/Melissa Granville/Alyssa Ballard-Reisch: Numana Feeds Haiti: A Case Study of a Grassroots, Community-Based Social Movement to «Save the Starving» ¿ Elisia L. Cohen/Charlene A. Caburnay/Jon Stemmle/María Len-Ríos/Tim Poor/Barbara Powe/Susie Rath/Erin Robinson/Katharine Semenkovich/Glen T. Cameron/Douglas A. Luke/Matthew W. Kreuter: The Ozioma News Service: Targeting Cancer Communication to African American Communities ¿ Kathryn Greene/Smita C. Banerjee: Reducing Smoking Disparities for Hispanic Adolescents: Empowerment Through Media Literacy ¿ Sarah Diamond/Leslie Snyder/Jean J. Schensul: Preventing Substance Use Among Multiethnic Urban Teens Using Education Entertainment, Social Marketing, and Peer Content ¿ Ann Neville Miller/Julie Gathoni Muraya/Ann Muthoni-Thuo/Leonard Mjomba: The Importance of Formative Research in Mass-Media Campaigns Addressing Health Disparities: Two Kenyan Case Studies ¿ David B. Buller/W. Gill Woodall: 5 a Day, the Rio Grande Way: Internet Intervention and Health Inequities in the Upper Rio Grande Valley ¿ Kevin B. Wright: Comprehensive Care Center and Computer-Mediated Support Group Approaches to Targeting Health Disparities: Two Case Studies ¿ Fiona McTavish/Helene McDowell/David Gustafson: How e-Health Systems Can Help the Medically Underserved ¿ Rebecca de Souza: The Business of Doing Interventions: A

Mohan J. Dutta (PhD, University of Minnesota) is Professor and Head of the Department of Communications and New Media and Founding Director of the Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research Evaluation at the National University of Singapore. He has been awarded the Lewis Donohew Award for research excellence in health communication and the University Scholar Award for research productivity from Purdue University.

Gary L. Kreps (PhD, University of Southern California) is a University Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at George Mason University where he directs the Center for Health and Risk Communication. His research, reported in more than 350 books and articles, has received broad recognition, including the ICA/NCA Outstanding Health Communication Scholar Award and the ECA Centennial Health Communication Scholar Award.