The first key factor that was taken into account was the risk that each patient presented as a potential source to spread the disease. The role that individuals had related to potential physical contact with other was evaluated and individuals that engaged in a high level of personal contact or large number of contacts were listed as high risk. In this group, the prostitute represents the highest level of risk because of her intimate contact with clients. The primary care physician has a high level of contact with patients and the pharmacist represents a risk due to work and her heroin addiction which might result in needle sharing.
Diversity analysis between the eight patients helps to differentiate similarity and differences group affiliation including gender, race, socio-economic class, age, and sexual orientation. Minorities tend to receive lower quality of healthcare than non-minorities even when access related factors such as insurance and income are controlled. The four selected patient are diverse in gender (2 males, 2 female), race (3 white, 1 black), socio-economic class (1 low, 3 high), and sexual orientation (1 gay, 3 straight). In addition, the prostitute is homeless so she is would be difficult to contact for follow-up appointments if more vaccine became available. The group is not diverse in age with the youngest and oldest patient excluded since they did present the highest risk of spreading the disease.
Social perception are a confounding factor which the
According to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services (Kassandra, A., 2015), the issue of health disparities have impacted many people’s lives in the community where the minority groups do not have equal access to the quality health care. These
In recent years, there has been a predicted shortage of physicians in the United States of America by 2025, numbering between 46,000 and 90,000 physicians for a growing United States population 1. However, the more pressing issue will be an even bigger shortage of minority physicians. Minorities are underrepresented in medical facilities as students and faculty. However, one minority especially has been on the decline since 1978. African American males in the medical field have been on a steady downward trend. In 1978, 1,410 African American males applied to medical school, compared to 2014, when 1,337 African American males applied to medical school 2. This downward trend is concerning to many persons both inside and out of the medical field. A recent article published by the
According to the World Health Organization, “globally there are approximately 16 million people that inject drugs and 3 million of them are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).” Once someone is infected with HIV, it is almost always fatal since there is currently no cure for the disease. A major component of HIV prevention is the Syringe Exchange Programs (SEP’s). SEP’s are one of the main resolutions that targets curbing the spread of blood-borne viruses among injecting drug users (IDU’s). With an estimated 1 in 5 injecting drug users worldwide infected with HIV, the program is vital to bringing this epidemic under control. 60 countries worldwide have reported HIV among IDUs and an additional 40 countries report a rash of
healthcare system (Elchoufani, 2018). Attaining a good health is the ultimate goal for all people and the overall population, so it is important that people study the interactions between race, gender, and socioeconomic status in this matter (ASPPH, n.d.). People in communities with lower socioeconomic status typically encounter fewer options for healthy food and a lack of health education as well as health care. All in all, studying minority health allows us to find methods in making health care more accessible for under-resourced populations, along with determining methods out services and resources can be dispersed to the populations which are more prone to certain illnesses (ASPPH, n.d.). The studying which results in better methods all benefit towards guiding the U.S. population to overall health
There are others areas of healthcare disparities to look into, such as immigrants and sexual orientation but for the purpose of this paper the following types will be the main areas discussed. The types of disparities of concern in this paper will include racial or ethnicity, gender, disabilities, socioeconomic, and geographic (Promotion, 2014). When looking into the racial or ethnic disparities, the population identifies themselves as racial or ethnic minority groups. Some examples of this population could
This journal evaluates the epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases disparities of African-American in the united states in comparison to white communities. This study focuses on disparities for African American because of the massive diseases of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis that the African American communities face. Most of the US population is either white or African American. This journal focuses on African American communities instead of African Americans because of the many diversities in the US African American population. Studies took from the Northeast, South, West and Midwest
Minority health disparities continue to be a pervasive problem within the United States.The Institute of Medicine defines disparity as, “differences in treatment provided to members of different racial or ethnic groups that are not justified by underlying health conditions or preferences” (Snowden 526). Despite adjustments made to access-related factors, insurance and income, minorities still tend receive lower-quality health care than whites (Flores, Olsen and Tomany-Korman 183). According to the Centers for Disease Control, “Relatively little progress has been made toward the goal of eliminating racial/ethnic disparities” (Gronman and Ginsburg 226). In this paper, I will describe the different health disparities that racial, ethnic and sexual minorities experience throughout their lives. I will then discuss the policies health care providers and government entities have put in place in order to eliminate the disparities between minorities and whites.
Health disparities in populations and population subgroups deal with differences in overall health and the spread of disease and death (Almgren, 2013). There are several characteristics of a population or subgroup that make them more vulnerable to disparities in health and healthcare. These include race, ethnicity, sex, age, education, income, employment, and geographic location among other characteristics. Many of which are linked to social inequality within communities. On the other hand, healthcare disparities include access to care, quality of care, equity, and health care outcomes (Almgren, 2013, p.243). Disparities in both categories can be explained by the social determinants of health that affect many people’s health status and include environmental factors present in communities (Patel & Rushefsky,2014). All these factors are interrelated and seem to affect minority and low-income groups more disproportionately. Meyer et.al. (2013), use the World Health Organizations explanation of social determinants of health as being “mostly responsible for health inequities—the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries” (p. 3). This explanation is applicable to communities and population groups within the U.S. as
Methodological principles and health care organizations both can reduce health disparities providing it is recognized a health disparity is a health contrast in the way things turn out across subgroups of the population, in connection to social issues, economic issues related to having a good job, or environmental circumstances such as unsafe neighborhoods. Even though health disparities are alive and known, the Unites Stated will inevitably gain when every person has a fair chance at living a long, healthy, and constructive life. Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health on the basis of their racial or ethnic group, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, age, mental health, cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion
Inside the confines of the United States, millions of people are not able to enjoy prosperity, wealth, and privilege which remains to be a rare commodity despite our countries inured financial ability. Health is one of the aspects that remain stagnant. Various people with different ethnicities face many of the same health risks, but they also have fears unique to their racial, ethnic, cultural upbringings. To gain an understanding of these modifications and formulation of race responses requires an individual to study more in depth their surroundings. The health care delivery systems are not exempt from disparities. Such disparities cause a need for improvement in the areas of social interaction, economic viability, environmental awareness, or occupational security. Some investigators have examined concerns related to stigma, social support, lack of a home, and poor cultural understanding by providers. Along with a plethora of researchers who have lots of knowledge on this issue, I wanted to further investigate how socioeconomic factors have a huge mark on race and health disparities in the United States.
Recently the existence and prevalence of health and health care disparities has increased with accompanying research showing that minorities (African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Native Americans, and Pacific Islanders) are disproportionately affected resulting in poorer health outcomes compared to non-minority populations (whites). To this degree is due to numerous issues including and most importantly the social determinants of health which includes lower levels of education, overall lower socioeconomic status, inadequate and unsafe housing, and living in close proximity to environmental hazards; all contributing to poor health. Given the ever widening gap in health and health care disparities, the growing number of individuals living at or below the poverty level, the low number of college graduates and the growing shortage of health care professionals (especially minority) the goals of this paper are to: (1) Define diversity and inclusion as interdependent entities. (2) Review the health care
The United States’ population is currently rising exponentially and with growth comes demographic shifts. Some of the demographics shifts include the population growth of Hispanics, increase in senior citizens especially minority elderly, increase in number of residents who do not speak English, increase in foreign-born residents, population trends of people from different sexual orientation, and trends of people with disabilities (Perez & Luquis, 2009). As a public health practitioner, the only way to effectively eliminate health disparities among Americans, one must explore and embrace the demographic shifts of the United States population because differences exist among ethnic groups (Perez, 2009). We must be cognizant of the adverse
Needle exchange programs are considered in the public’s eye as controversial topic. The major public fears involve that these needle exchange programs will propagate the drug problem even more. Another fear is the spread of diseases such as HIV that will spread more rapidly than before among users. These two issues unify where the use of intravenous drugs not only creates disease risk from injection with tainted needles, but also increases risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases through promiscuous sex, possibly related to drug use. However, with the local health departments allowed to offer needle exchange programs give access to drug users to prevent contaminating the major population. "A
Sharing drug needles can spread diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. Even if a person is not sharing drug needles, he or she is still at risk for developing an infectious disease.
For this health promotion assignment, the subject I have chosen to discuss is sexually transmitted infections (STI’s). STIs are spread from one person to another through intimate sexual contact but can also spread through non-sexual means such as via the blood or from mother to child during pregnancy (World health organisation (WHO), 2016). According to Mudhar (2013) groups that are particularly at a higher risk are young adults, men who have sex with men (MSM), black African and Caribbean communities. With more than one million STI’s acquired everyday worldwide, it is a major public health issue within society (WHO, 2016). Even though the overall health of the population in England has significantly improved over the past 50 years because of the highly valued NHS, health inequalities are still a dominant feature of health across all regions in England and many people still find it hard to accept that serious health inequalities still exist (Marmot, 2010).