The Great Recession has been brutal for men. Of the 8 million jobs that have disappeared in the last 36 months, 75 percent were held by men. In Alameda County, the bad economy hit black men hardest. Black men in Alameda County have an unemployment rate of 15 percent compared to 7 percent for all men statewide. Nearly one in five black men in Alameda County live in poverty.

 A new study reports that a bad economy, combined with a public health system geared to help women and children, has left men, and black men in particular, in what one county public health official called “a real health crisis.”

 His Health: Alameda County Male Health Status Report shows that 30 percent of the county’s black men are obese, and 32 percent have high blood pressure. Black men have the county’s highest death rates for lung cancer and diabetes, as well as the highest incidence of prostate cancer. As bad as these numbers are, the health of black men is getting worse. “As unemployment rates continue to go up, as our social nets become more and more fragmented, incidences of health issues such as hypertension and diabetes will go up,” said Michael Shaw, director of the Urban Male Health Initiative, a program designed to make policy recommendations that reduce early death for men in Alameda County.

The report is also intended to show the consequences of concentrating public health resources on women and children at the expense of men. “When we focus on men’s health we focus on women and children, and the health of the community,” said Shaw. Studies such as His Health are unusual, but are becoming more common as more public health experts become aware that neglecting men’s health undermines efforts to improve the health of women and children, according to Jessica Luginbuhl, the county health official who led the report.

Here are some more shocking, if not surprising, statistics from the report.

The homicide rate for black men in Alameda County far outstrips the rate for other races.

Assaults send more black men to the emergency room.

Black men are also more likely to go to the ER for mental disorders.