Health Disparity Among African-Americans

With this increased research and effort, Americans would be able to intervene and make positive impacts with the state, tribal, and local levels to best address health disparities and inequalities. In efforts to thwart ethnic and minority disparities, The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) passed the HHS Disparities Action Plan in order to establish “a nation free of disparities in health and health care, (Cooper 97)” and to implement a series of priorities, strategies, actions, and goals to achieve this vision. States, local communities, private organizations, and providers have additionally engaged in efforts to reduce health disparities. With the HHS Disparities Action Plan, the Department continuously assess policies and programs on racial and ethnic health disparities, watching to see which policies make an impact on the level of health care received by minorities. Similarly, The Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage expansions significantly increase coverage options for low and moderate income populations and particularly benefit the “vulnerable populations.” The ACA also includes provisions to strengthen the safety-net delivery system, improve

For centuries, the United States has been seen as a food and food-product paradise; with a constant bombardment of daily specials, “two-for-one” deals, and never ending combo options oozing from every corner of the food-scape. For many Americans, over indulgence is a frequent occurrence-studies show more than 50% of adults say they eat out at least once a week (“58% Eat at A Restaurant”, 2013). Even in this scene of gluttony, the poverty stricken and systematically oppressed find themselves in food deserts across The States; that’s more than 45 million Americans without access to healthy, reasonably priced foodstuffs. Of this group of 45 million, the African American community holds the seat for the highest poverty rate among various racial and ethnic groups at an astounding 26.2% in 2014 (DeNavas-Walt, 2015).

The disparities are around us every day and unless we educate ourselves and our communities these disparities will continue to wreak havoc on our neighborhoods and in the future, we will just be putting our kids and their kids in a continuing cycle of ignorance when we could have done more if it’s just educating the community we leave in, that alone could be enough to turn the tides in our people favor. In turn, I would hope this paper enlighten you on what is going on in our neighborhood and what we can do to correct this issue to preserve our autonomy. Racial and ethnic health disparities undermine what a healthcare system should stand for. Although the top three causes and seven of the 10 leading causes of death are the same for African Americans and whites, the risk factors and incidence, morbidity, and mortality rates for these diseases and injuries often are greater among blacks than whites (MMWR, 2005). Health disparities refer to differences in disease risks, incidence, morbidity, and mortality but most of all for the sake of this paper unequal access to quality health insurance amongst African American in the United States, which will also go hand and hand with the social and economic disadvantages. The disadvantages of health disparities usually affect people of African American descent who have systemically experienced a greater social and economic obstacle to health care.

Environmental Racism and Health Disparities are two of the many issues that affect the African American community. Environmental Racism occurs when people of color, who disproportionately live in lower income communities, are revealed to dangerous materials consisting of waste and toxins which are used or disposed of in their communities. Health Disparities occur when a group of people suffers inequalities of health advantages when compared to the access to quality health care and health advantages of another group besides the African Americans. Factors that contribute to issues of health disparities are the lack of health care coverage and vulnerability to toxins in the air. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and obesity are common health disparities that deals with heart disease within the

A proponderance of statistics derived from scholarly sources corroborates the notion that minorities who have a low socioeconomic position or have an significantly low income suffers many atrocious health disparities this includes obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases thus projecting a direct correlation between the two variables. In addition, minorities, specifically African-Americans that live in low income neighborhoods have less access to fresh, healthy and organic foods. In particular, supermarkets are sparse in their area and sometimes is not within walking distance or within the vicinity of their homes. On the flipside, these neighborhoods have the highest levels of fast-food restaurants and convenient stores. These barriers

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Guide Pyramid is based on a recommended number of servings from six food groups. Food groups were the bread, cereal, rice, and pasta group (6-11 servings), vegetable group (3-5 servings), fruit group (2-4 servings), milk, yogurt, and cheese group (2-3 servings), meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, and nuts group (2-3 servings), and fats, oils, and sweets (use sparingly) (2001). Inexpensive fat-filled, low-nutrient-density foods predominate in African American communities (Rajaram 1998). Proper education would have informed the proper foods, servings, and amount of servings to ensure proper eating habits that abstractly monitors weight control. According to statistics, 27.4% of African American women who had less than high school education was obese as opposed to only 15.7% of African American women with college or above was obese (U.S. Surgeon General, 2001).

The purpose of this literature review was to examine the dietary behaviors of low-income African Americans from a socio-ecological perspective. Based on 12 descriptive studies, dietary behaviors were the result of personal and environmental factors. Low-income African Americans were eating more fast foods because of the culture, social traditions, role expectations impact eating practices and pattern within peer groups, friends and family. (Robinson, 2008) Another research conducted by Amy and her friends tried to test a dietary intervention for high risk African Americans. They used telephone data and logistic regressions to identify the association of low-fat eating behaviors with personal and environmental behaviors. They found that education and low income were associated with high-fat eating behaviors in African American. (Eyler et al., 2004). Similarly, the study conducted by Weinrich and her friends on body mass index and intake of selected foods in African American men tested the relationship between selected dietary consumption and BMI. The sample was a community-based cohort of 204 African American Southern men who attended a prostate screening program. They found out 47% of them was obese and the majority of them ate chicken and fried fish. Few men ate vegetables. They concluded that, African American men need

Health inequalities for African Americans are the collective result of discrimination from current and the past throughout the U.S. culture. Many African Americans or blacks often work in areas with limited educational opportunities like fast food workers, industry workers, and farm workers. There are many factors that affect the blacks. Some of the things are: the lacks of stores and health status. The health status is an effect on blacks because they are more likely to have toxic materials throughout the community rather than a white community.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (US 1776)” One of the prime concepts of the constitution was the upholding of equality. Our ancestors believed that everyone was equal and thus should all be able to pursue the same basic luxuries equally. Everyone should be able to pursue life and accordingly be able to purse a means of protecting and promoting this life through good health. Health care is the means by which we seek out medical treatment. In a study conducted by the New York Times, it was concluded that there have been differences in health outcomes of African

Health disparities are the inequalities that appear in the arrangement of healthcare and approaches to healthcare across different racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and socioeconomic group.

Fried chicken, mash potatoes and collard greens mixed with fatback meat was my family’s favorite Sunday meal. Soul food, as it has been called, is valued by many African American families. Given the worldwide obesity epidemic that appears to be affecting most ethnic groups, there is an appreciation that the causes of obesity among African American families and others must lie in the fundamental aspects of the food supply (Capers, C et al. 2011). In my opinion, African Americans in the United Sates are more likely to be obese because there is a large number of low-income families’ and many are uninsured. According to the Office of Minority Health, African American women have the highest rates of being obese compared to other groups in

Some people have the option to have a great health care system and reinsure that their well being is being greatly taken care of. However, this is not the case for others. African Americans are proved to have the worst health outcomes (Golash-Boza, 2015). Throughout history, African Americans have always been discriminated based on skin color. Because of this disadvantage African Americans are more prone to stress, leading to negative health outcomes (Golash-Boza, 2015). Discrimination can lead to stress, stress leads to stressful conditions such as poverty, crime, or poor housing. These stressful conditions can lead to unhealthy behaviors such as illegal crime, smoking, or substance use (Golash-Boza,2015). Due to the stressful resources African Americans are dealing with they can deal with these situations by eating unhealthy foods, therefore, causing a negative health outcome. Racism and health are indeed correlated with one another. As stated by Golash-Boza in Race and Racisms, “racial discrimination continues to be prevalent in our society and leads to negative health outcomes for people of color”. Overall racism can affect health in many ways. Those who live in poor neighborhoods, racial bias in medical care, the stress of experience of discrimination, and the social brand of inferiority can have consequences for health (Williams, 1999). Race can be a big factor in the type

Physical health of a person has been linked to be directly impacted by racism and discrimination. Residents of highly segregated neighborhoods have less access to a range of services provided to them in that city. These services include, health clinics for regular check ups, good quality grocery stores for fresh meat and produce, and parks or facilities for recreational use and exercise. “African Americans (or blacks) have an overall death rate that is 1.6 times higher than that of the white population. Elevated mortality rates for the black compared to the white population exists for eight of the ten leading causes of death” (Williams 180). The top three leading causes

African Americans in 2009 had the largest death rates from heart disease and stroke compared with other races4. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, however the incidence of heart disease mortality has been on the decline since the late 1960’s5. The rate of decline shows a disproportionate gap among

In recent history, obesity among the black communities has become one of the most prevalent issues that urban America endures.