Health Disparities Of Prenatal Care

I completely agree with your claims regarding the presence of racial disparity within the spectrum of health and how maternal health during pregnancy can lead to significant adverse effects on the health of the fetus. I found this to be highly interesting as I was unaware about how much disparity is prevalent within different races across the board. For example, an African American man in Harlem is less likely than a man in in Bangladesh to survive to age 65 or how low-birth-weights are high amongst African American mothers in comparison to white mothers (Kuzawa and Sweet 2-7). Furthermore, other information discussed within the article regarding how environmental and genetic factors could have a lifelong impact on infants during pregnancy

The medical industrial complex (MIC) holds many influences in the care of women, especially poor marginalized women. MIC is simply a platform of the network among corporations that supply health care services and products to make money. Oparah and Bonaparte explain how the individual’s ability to pay determines the quality of care they receive (Oparah & Bonaparte, 2015, pg. 4). In relations to birthing, hospitals aren’t a place for an intimate connection between a woman that’s about to give birth and their newborns. It’s more of a time efficiency center where doctors (mainly white men) would purposely perform cesarean deliveries to not only save time, but to make a

Major disparities continue to exist in spite of America’s “Affordable Care Act”, Although minorities suffer disease five times greater than the rest of the nation, minorities represent the majority of the disparity. Infant Mortality has always been America’s indicator as to the state of the countries health status. America is one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world, However, America ranks number 24th in the world for infant mortality. Puerto Rican and Indian women rank highest among ethnic classes with low infant mortality rates. Some researchers have found lack of prenatal access as the key contributing factor to low mortality and birth weights among these two ethnic classes.

The third piece for evidence is a book solely based on minorities and health disparities. This book discusses racial and cultural issues in relation to medical disparities, this is not generalized amongst racial groups, the text dives into specifics. I plan to use this text to discuss the different perspectives on race and health disparities in various cultural groups. My two final pieces of evidence will be used to provide the audience with real world examples of how race causes health disparities in modern America. The first article is about how black women face health disparities, the article does dive into women’s healthcare, “Black women are three times more likely to experience an unintended pregnancy than white women. These higher rates in unexpected pregnancy reflect a disparity in access to quality affordable contraceptive services along with other quality women’s health care services” (1). The second article is geared towards ethic groups over the age of 65 who are impacted by health disparities in the form of

The Low Country Healthy start program is designed to eliminate disparities in perinatal health, improve birth outcomes, and quality of life in African american women and infants living in Allendale, Bamberg, Hampton, and Orangeburg counties. The Low County healthy start program propositions four purposes (1) Eliminate disparities in perinatal health by focusing on individual health behaviors and assisting women of child bearing age improve their health and the health of their families, (2) Increase responsiveness to women and families at high risk for poor outcomes by working directly with perinatal, women 's health, infant health and social services providers and systems, (3) Increase the impact of the Low Country Community

Disparities in health and health care in the United States have been a longstanding challenge resulting in some groups receiving less and lower quality health care than others and experiencing poorer health outcomes. Hispanics, Blacks, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and low-income individuals are more likely to be uninsured relative to Whites and those with higher incomes. Low-income individuals and people of color also face increased barriers to accessing care, receive poorer quality care, and experience worse health outcomes. The Department of Health and Human Services Disparities Action Plan (HHS) sets out a series of priorities, strategies, actions, and goals to achieve a vision of a nation free of disparities in health and health care.

Discuss disparities related to ethnic and cultural groups relative to low birth weight infants and preterm births.

Healthcare access is a major public policy initiative to improve mothers and children's health access and utilization which began with Medicaid expansions in the 1980s and then came along (CHIP) Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997. Greater access to prenatal care provided by Medicaid has not contributed to the declines in infant health disparities (Dubay, Joyce, Kaestner, & Kenney, 2001: Epstein & Newhouse, 1998). Studies suggest that Medicaid and CHIP the expansion has contributed to the declines in most mortalities for the external causes for children 6 to 17 years of age, but has not been resulted in the decrease in the mortality diseases between the white and black children (Howell, et al., 2010). Access to high-quality health care still remains an important goal for infants, children, and young women. To get high-quality care, Maternal Child Health population needs health insurance to help cover most of their benefits when it comes to providers and

It is important to understand determinants such as poverty, lack in health care access, exposure to disease early in life, social positions, gender, race/ethnicity will all effect communities who receive health inequalities. Organizations such as WHO, National Institute of Health (NIH), and Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have been working to provide the best quality of care for urban/rural populations. An adjustment in policies is needed to protect access to health, education, and employment for disadvantaged populations. Even though governments have made policies to provide health to all, we can see urban/rural populations are in a lack of quality of care. Health needs to be a right for all, and not based on whether in urban area or socioeconomic status they are in. Individuals’ irrespective of socioeconomic class or race should have the same rights and

There are several disparities where health care is deprive between minorities African American, Hispanic and low-income communities. Healthcare quality and access to care are unequal among racial and low-income groups. Black American and Hispanic have face with poor access to health care among any other race, and the low- income family who have been offers low stander of care according to the American Medical Association eventually suffer from” higher mortality rates, higher incidence of major diseases, and lower availability and utilization of medical services” (50-I-95).

Also, for reasons that are still being investigated in public health, poorer pregnant women are much more likely to be diagnosed with labor-inducing bacterial infections such as bacterial vaginosis or chorioamnionitis (inflammation of the fetal membrane) (Allsworth & Peipert, 2007; Dammann, Leviton, & Allred, 2000). In a study sample of over 3,700 women who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis was higher in pregnant women who were living at (34%) or below (37%) the federal poverty level compared to those who were living above it (24%) (Allsworth & Peipert, 2007). Additionally, pregnant women in lower SES communities have been found to suffer from more chronic healthcare care conditions such as hypertension and diabetes which are highly associated with preterm birth and small gestational size (Nagahawatte & Goldenberg,

Since this demographic faces many internal and external barriers, services have arisen in the DC area to provide aid. On a broader level, programs like WIC and Medicaid provide appropriate food and medical care to this population. However, on the local level, organizations such as Mary’s Center, the Community of Hope, and the Developing Families Centers have provided numerous minorities with health and prenatal care (Bowser). Out of these organizations, the Community of Hope and the Developing Families Center specifically target low income and pregnant African Americans.

Women and ethnic minorities have been subjected to many inequalities in the health care system. Though there are efforts to “improving” the system, some women are still under represented. These under representations are caused by inadequate ways to receiving health care and restrictions of things such as abortions. According to the chapter “Navigating the Health Care System” in the text book Our Bodies, Ourselves; the author states, “Unfortunately, health care reform includes burdensome restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion care and unacceptable limits on access to coverage for certain immigrant women” (Norsigian, p.653,

A group known as FP2020 has been working to make family planning services available throughout the world. Through their efforts, they have avoided 77 million unplanned pregnancies in just three years. In the United States, a similar problem needs to be addressed. Although the costs and expenses associated with contraception is more accessible for the population, the locations are not. Having access to family planning services ensures that women can get the prenatal care they need for healthy pregnancies.

Prenatal care is widely accepted as an important element in improving pregnancy outcome. (Gorrie, McKinney, Murray, 1998). Prenatal care is defined as care of a pregnant woman during the time in the maternity cycle that begins with conception and ends with the onset of labor. A medical, surgical, gynecologic, obstretic, social and family history is taken (Mosby's Medical, Nursing, and Allied Health Dictionary, 1998). It is important for a pregnant woman as well as our society to know that everything that you do has an effect on your baby. Because so many women opt not to receive the benefits of prenatal care, our society sees the ramification, which include a variety of complications primarily