Why Do Health Disparities Exist?

In the other side, eHealth has been a solution in healthcare disparities. Above the previous period a quickly increasing body of works has established the reality of healthcare disparities. Although agreement has not appeared concerning the reasons of disparities, they are normally assumed to be connected to worker, patient, and healthcare system aspects. On the other side, the present United State healthcare system is concerned with near personalized severe care. Yet healthcare disparities by description are a people equal phenomenon. Persons do not have disparities, but populations and groups have disparities. Therefore people’s equal data alone will not allow us to grow customized interventions. Correspondingly, biologic, cellular, or molecular

Why is it that in the world most advanced country, health disparities are so prevalent among ethnic minorities, especially African-Americans? Why is this issue so resilient despite countless efforts to bring it under control? Health disparities among socially disadvantaged populations are no laughing matter, and the African-American population of Clayton County, Georgia are no exception. They are at greater risk of developing diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, or have higher rates of infant mortality compared to whites. Since the advent of the “Healthy People” initiative some two decades ago, it has centered its goals on disparities in the United States and establishing efforts for reducing it among all Americans.1 Therefore, this article will look at a few significant researches done on the topic of health disparities, especially in the area of infant mortality, and how other researchers have addresses it; also, along with its strengths and limitations.

Health disparities are often described as the injustices in health care. The term reflects different clinical outcomes between segments of the population: why certain populations have a higher rate of certain diseases or more deaths contrasted with others. (CDC, 2015, p.3)

In the video from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health allowed us to see the disparity in health care access among social and ethnic groups. Social statuses played a significant role in the population’s health condition and mortality. Populations with higher statuses and income are able to afford a better life due to the fact that they have the money to obtain health insurance that allows them access to specialized care that improves their health outcomes and decreases their mortality. However, regardless of social economic status, a persons ethnic background and skin color plays a critical role in the prognosis and outcomes of their health issues due to the fact that people of color are discriminated and have minimal

Within the article, “Health Disparities and Health Equity: The Issue Is Justice” I found various important points presented. First, I thought the authors placed an emphasize on operationally defining definitions. The National Institutes of Health defines health disparities as “differences in the incidence, prevalence, mortality, and burden of diseases and other adverse health conditions that exist among specific population groups in the US”, these differences occur by “gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, living in rural localities, or sexual orientation” (Healthy People, 2010). I found these definitions

For far too long many people have been discriminated against, prejudice and unfair in many medical situations unconsciously. Bias within the medical field is a growing topic and in recent years has been worse now than 50 years ago. Many Doctors, Physicians, Nurses, and assistants have an unconscious bias towards certain groups of people, without even realizing they were doing it. These unconscious biases are affecting patient care, diagnosis, treatment plans and medications that patients are receiving.

Diversity in health care matters and it is a system in itself of itself that can work. Areas in healthcare that are underrepresented occurs with regards to Race, Ethnicity, Culture and Gender (Healey 2014). Several measures have been implemented to level the inequalities in the American health care system: Affirmative Action, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as well as the Civil Rights Act. These laws prohibit discrimination against certain protected population subgroups based on race, national origin, skin color, sex

Health disparities remain and continue to remain in the foreseeable future a topic of research and debate in health education and promotion. There is a plethora of social, economic, political, environmental, community, and cultural factors attributed to the causes of health disparities. A potential solution for many health disparities is the delivery of cost effective and reliable targeted health education and promotion interventions. These interventions need evidence-based research and evaluation. To develop and test such interventions requires health-related research studies that have adequate representation of minorities. However, most funded research is concentrated to a homogenous group of White researchers and lack of diversity in researchers. This correlates to the absence of diversity in study participants who are mainly White and thus benefitting the most from the findings.

disparity of access to quality health services in certain areas of Indiana is seemingly nothing less

As an African-American male I fully understand how being a minority has hindered my health care status. By the same token, by spending some of my high school education in a predominantly white community as well as spending my first semester in college volunteering roughly 10 hours a week in an underserved minority community mentoring and tutoring high school freshmen, I’ve been made aware of the health care disparities between the two. Witnessing the obvious disparities between Whites and minorities is an issue that should be resolved by increasing minority’s awareness of the issues and presenting the best solution for the

Medical racism affects people of color in contemporary society in a variety of ways (Holloway, 2105). Doctors unaware of their unconscious racial biases may treat patients of color differently, such as lecturing them, speaking more slowly to them and keeping them longer for visits (Study, 2014). Such behaviors lead minority patients to feel disrespected by medical providers and sometimes suspend care. In addition, some physicians fail to give patients of color the same range of treatment options as they offer to white patients (Study, 2014). Medical racism won’t dissipate until medical schools teach doctors about the history of institutional racism and its legacy today. In spite of significant advances in the diagnosis and treatment of most chronic diseases, there is evidence that racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower quality of care than non-minorities and that, patients of minority ethnicity experience greater morbidity and mortality from various chronic diseases than non-minorities (Study, 2014). Rather than looking for biological factors inherent in race which are responsible for racial inequities in health, some researchers propose that the “problem of racism” must be seen as one of the primary factors in producing inequitable health outcomes in racialized populations regardless of socioeconomic or educational status (Study, 2014). Racial inequality in health needs to be situated within an historical context and a contemporary reality shaped by racism in its various forms (Study, 2014). While race is often referred to as a social construct with no real material base, racist assumptions continue to shape institutions and social interactions including those related to health and health care (Study, 2014). This ties back to ‘white privilege’; being identified as ‘white’ is prescribed in the way we act and

I have experienced and witnessed differences in accessibility and quality of healthcare between races and socioeconomic brackets. I strongly relate and commiserate with these issues and henceforth, addressing these inequalities in my own practice is imperative to me. We need diversified health teams that can ably address the complex health needs of all Americans,

It can also be said that health inequalities can occur as a product of unnecessary differences between people that affect powerful groups in our society. In an article by Steven P. Wallace (2014) he notes, “Efforts to promote health are not adopted evenly across populations, and groups at the highest risk often are the last to benefit from the societal changes and new technologies” (p. 7). As a practicing nurse, I have also witnessed such practices of inequality and disparities in the healthcare system. I am of the belief that there needs to be stronger advocacy for the individuals who experience such

Health disparity between different countries remains a significant population health and wellness issue. The disparity is evidenced by various health and well-being outcomes such as mortality rates, incidences and prevalence of diseases, and life expectancy among other indicators. The disparity has continued to expand despite various global initiatives targeting the reduction of particular global health issues such as child mortality as well as the advancement and globalization of health care. It is hypothesized that various empowerment enhance population health and well-being and thus health and wellness status of particular countries can be linked to significant increase or decrease of empowerment measures. Some of the primary empowerment measures associated with the level of health and well-being outcomes include rights and civil liberties, freedom, education, income inequality, and controlling per cap GDP.

Director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health at the University of California, San Francisco