Disproportionate rates of incarceration among African American men also detract from their overall health.⁵ African American men are 6 times more likely to be imprisoned than white men, and current trends would suggest that 1 of every 3 African American men born today will be incarcerated. An especially unfortunate indictment is that African American men are half as likely to die if they are in prison compared with those who are not; incarcerated white men, in comparison, die at a higher rate than those who are not incarcerated.⁶ The effect of mass incarceration on individuals’ employment, voting, housing, credentials (such as drivers’ licenses), and certainly health is profound and still poorly understood.

Although there have been calls for action from public health to address these overall disparities, much of the medical field has been more silent. Traditional models of medical practice generally stand apart—in place, time, and perspective—from the experiences and needs of young African American men. Instead of the traditional routes of enrolling in primary care, lower-income African American men more readily connect with health care through military service, prison, or emergency departments. Health care systems are not well designed to acknowledge, attend to, and successfully address the health issues that are most salient: violence, trauma, shootings, and the psychological anguish that accompanies them. Shortages of primary care practitioners in certain areas certainly add to this problem. Even when clinicians are available, they may recognize risks but have little to offer to ameliorate them.

Well-child care visits, the most common interaction youth and adolescents have with medical care, have limited success influencing behaviors. The American Academy of Pediatrics’ violence prevention program, Connected Kids: Safe, Strong, Secure, was developed in 2006.⁷ However, the United States Preventive Services Task Force has not found evidence to update its recommendation for counseling to prevent youth violence from its 1996 finding of “insufficient evidence”; the topic has been made inactive.⁸ African American boys and men thus face 2 mismatches: funding that overwhelmingly favors health care over more effective social supports, and a traditional health care model that is limited in its ability to help. The care youth and men need most is the care least available.

Considering these barriers, are there effective practices that clinicians can implement? First, advocacy efforts are needed for public health and social supports to achieve health improvements at scale. These approaches require substantially more robust funding and emphasis; US public health is funded with only 3 cents of the health dollar.

Second, the advantages medical care can provide should be strengthened. Unlike violence prevention, engagement in health care can positively influence those disparities amenable to effective medical treatment, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cardiovascular disease, and mental health. Intentional changes in practice—patient-centered medical homes, infrastructure and roles that support population health, and aligned incentives—are necessary, but not sufficient to improve care. As these changes are implemented, how can health services be designed, especially those in urban areas, to better meet the needs of young African American men? We suggest the following.

Proactive engagement and partnerships. Certain primary care interfaces may provide special opportunities to engage younger men who can benefit from a medical relationship: during a partner’s pregnancy and after becoming a father; experience of physical trauma, mental trauma, or both and presentation to the emergency department; physical examinations for employment; drug courts; evaluation of hypertension in schooling, military, or occupational screening; and reentry from corrections. Lifestyle support such as the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) often falters without an effective distribution network; clinical practice has not been a successful structure. Instead, entities such as the YMCA, with a community-based reach of 21 million Americans, have been able to effectively scale up the DPP—implementing sustainable exercise and weight loss programs led by community members. Targeted partnerships between primary care and public health are also under way in the Bronx, New York; Durham, North Carolina; and Kansas City, Missouri. Treating violence as a public health matter allows for constructive and successful clinical partnerships with schools, public safety officials, social workers, employers, and others with strategies of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention.

Meet men on their own terms. The medical visit is an invaluable time for clinicians to proactively recognize basic needs. The National Healthy Start Association, for example, bases its fatherhood program on first addressing survival needs to better ensure family involvement. Health care practitioners, together with partners, must develop the capacity to recognize and address social determinants of health and be funded to do so. Strategic partnerships and effective availability—via colocation of community-based resources, multidisciplinary partnerships, and home visiting programs—turn recognition of need into action. Outside the clinic, new colleagues, such as navigators and health coaches, can further this effort.

Create an open door and trusted space. Making care environments (physical and electronic) more male-friendly and father-friendly is essential. Just as athletic and electronics stores develop adaptive environments to invite their customers, health centers should provide a welcoming space for younger men (individually and in groups) when they are both well and sick. Other trusted spaces in the community that can contribute to healthy relationships—Boys and Girls Clubs, schools, barbershops, and centers of faith—should also be nurtured as alternative sites to health centers.

Build where medical care works, rebuild where it does not. Successful care has been demonstrated in mental health, substance use, hypertension, HIV/AIDS, posttraumatic stress disorder, and recovery from physical trauma. These areas point toward specific intersections in which men may be vulnerable and can be welcomed into a helpful medical relationship. Health care approaches to risks, however, often are limited by overassessing and underaddressing. A prerequisite for risk assessment is the ability to provide effective care for identified risks. Prevention begins with identifying an individual’s most pressing needs such as housing, violence, drug or alcohol abuse, and depression (eTable in theSupplement).

Thoughtful use of newer technologies. Although technologies have potential to exacerbate disparities, they also have the capacity to reduce them. Newer methods of health care communication, such as texting, are desired by men and should be offered. Public health departments, such as Delaware’s, have been using the web to engage men in topics such as preconception care. More is being learned about people’s disclosure with virtual members of a care team; it equals (or may exceed) information reported to human colleagues.

Failures of the US health care system are most pronounced among historically marginalized communities. Improving the health of young African American men will require reimagining and repurposing efforts among clinicians, health care organizations, and communities.