Health Promotion in Minority Populations Analysis

Health Promotion in the minority Population (African American Population)
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Health Promotion in the minority Population (African American Population)
Healthcare is increasingly faced with widening health disparities amongst various groups and cultures across the globe. The imbalances in healthcare are linked to the difference in socioeconomic, cultural, and historical backgrounds. Due to racial and socio-cultural heterogeneity in the US, health disparities amongst the population are prevalent. Healthcare disparities are manifestations of variations that may determine the health status of a given population. Such variations are often defined as social determinants of health and may include differences in race, ethnicity, age, socioeconomic status, sexual identity, disability status, education level, and sex. According to Healthy People 2020, all of these variables shape person's ability to achieve optimal health. It must be noted that significant evidence shows that health disparities do unravel differential health outcomes across different groups. Such differences are traceable to health inequities emanating from systematic variations and occupation of unequal positions in society that are avoidable and unjust. Many US communities experience health disparities variably. This paper will focus on African Americans as one of the US population groups experiencing a significant level of health iniquities. When compared to national averages in many aspects of health, African Americans manifest spectra of health disparities.
Description of African American Minority group and Health Status Comparison to National Averages.
The US depicts persistent racial disparities in health coverage, chronic health illnesses, mental and psychological health, morbidities, and mortalities. These disparities are not products of a person's or group's behavior but, instead, they result from decades of systematic inequality in the US economic, housing, and health care systems. When compared to national health outcomes, African Americans experience poorer health outcomes. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), African Americans live longer, where their current death rate for African Americans has declined about 25% over 17 years, primarily for people aged 65 years and above. Still, even with such improvements, new evidence shows that younger African Americans live with or die of many illnesses typically found in white Americans at older ages. The differences may explain early mortalities and morbidities amongst African Americans in their 20s, 30s, and 40s for diseases and causes of death, which are not relatively common in the white population within similar age limits and national averages of disease prevalence. Early exposure to diseases is a worrying concern because it can contribute to early deaths.
A snapshot into US health disparity data paints the extent of the disproportionate status of health amongst black Americans in terms of health coverage, chronic health conditions, mental health, and leading causes of death. For example, 10.6 percent of African Americans (AAs) were uninsured compared with 5.9 percent of non-Hispanic whites,89.4 percent of AAs had health care coverage compared with 93.7 percent of white Americans,44.1 percent of AAs had government health insurance coverage, and 12.1 percent of AAs under the age of 65 reported having no health insurance coverage according to 2017 statistics (Center For American Progress,2020). In terms of chronic illnesses,13.8 percent of AAs reported poorer health compared with 8.3 percent of non-Hispanic whites,88 % of AAs women were overweight or obese compared to 64.8 percent of non-Hispanic women, 12.6 % of AA children had asthma compared with 7.7 percent of non-Hispanic white children, and 45 % of AA adults over age 20 had hypertension compared with 28.7 percent of non-Hispanic white adults in 2007(Center for American Progress,2020). In addition, the mental health disparity data show that 8.7 % of AA adults received mental health services compared with 18.6 percent of non-Hispanic white adults,6.2 % of AA adults received prescription medication for mental health services compared with 15.3 percent of non-Hispanic white adults, and 3.8 % of AA adults had severe psychological distress in 2008. Finally, heart disease, cancer, and accidents continue to be leading causes of death amongst A.A.s, A.A.s have the highest mortality rate for all cancers combined compared with any other racial and ethnic group, and AA infant mortality is almost twofold national average mortality (Center for American Progress,2020).
The concept of race and ethnicity play an intertwining and sophisticated role in determining health disparities amongst African Americans. Race and ethnicity are socially constructed dimensions that profoundly impact people's lives, defined by how one perceives oneself and how others perceive one. It is critical to acknowledge the social construction based on prevailing social perceptions, historical policies, and norms of race and ethnicity because these concepts have been systematically used over time. However, race and ethnicity saliently contribute to health inequalities. Thus, the social, political, and historical perspectives of ethnicity and race are some of the core predictors of health.
The notion of ethnic and racial minorities has been changing over time. Baciu et al. (2017), 37.9 percent of the population are identified as racial or ethnic minorities in 2014, but "minority" populations are already majority communities in some areas such as California. It is predicted that by the year 2044, about 50 percent of the US population may be composed of communities that are currently considered ethic 'minorities". From a racial and ethnic perspective, health disparities manifest differently, including higher rates of chronic illnesses and premature deaths. For instance, infant gestational age is a critical predictor of morbidity and infant mortality. Still, it differs among racial and ethnic groups where recent data show that African American women had the highest percentage of preterm singleton births at 11.1 percent (Baciu et al.,2017). Cardiovascular diseases and cancer are the leading causes of death across race, ethnicity, and gender. Still, African Americans were 30 percent more likely than whites to die prematurely from cardiovascular disorders. African American men are twofold more likely than whites to die prematurely from a stroke. Baciu et al. (2017) further report that about 44 percent of African American men and 48 percent of African American women have some form of cardiovascular disease and African Americans have higher rates of stroke-associated mortalities than Hispanic and white women.
Ethnicity and racial factors are embedded in socioeconomic and political systems that determine resource and wealth distribution. More black communities are deprived of socioeconomic opportunities due to historical, socioeconomic segregation and sideline that impeded their wealth accumulation and resource-buildups. The iniquities in socioeconomic inequities and wealth disparities may have partially contributed to more inadequate access to education and quality health services amongst African communities than their white counterparts. These systemati...