Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

Introduction

Although the Millennium Development Goals from number four to seven address the issues of universal health care in the world, the issue on the causes of health disparities especially due to ethnic and racism is still a problem.

Health Disparities

Health disparities are the variations and frequent occurrences of deaths, diseases, or health problems in a particular group or population due to racism or ethnicity. The population may also be discriminated according to the gender, education status, level of income, and physical/emotional disability.

The variation in health indicators

There is a wide variation of health indicators between the whites and other minor races like the Africans, Indians, Latinos, Asians, and Hispanics in America. In comparison to the whites, the most hit minor races are African American and the Indians in America.

Although the infant mortality rate in the U.S is relatively low, the number of African American infants who die each year still stands high doubling that of the whites. Africans who suffer and die from cardiovascular diseases are about 40% higher than the whites are, while African American cancer patients are 30% more than the whites are.

Thus, the two commonest cancers; prostrate and breast; mainly affect Africans despite a similarity in the screening rates. In addition, deaths among African Americans from the HIV/AIDS pandemic are about seven times higher than in the whites (CDC, 2010). Finally, homicide cases in Africans remain high when compared to the whites.

Diabetes, high blood pressure, tuberculosis, and obesity cases are high in Hispanic Americans than the whites. About 20% of T.B patients in the US are Hispanic. Additionally, infants born to Hispanic parents have low birth weight (CDC 2010 Par.4).

The Indians in America also experience high mortality rates, diabetic cases and they record high number of deaths/injuries from accidents and homicides/suicides. However, Asians are the only minority group with good health in the US when compared to the whites. Unfortunately, women from the pacific island (Vietnam) record high cases of cervical cancer in the US.

Causes for the variations in the health indicators

The health disparity in the United States is due racial discrimination whereby the minority cannot readily access health services. For instance, the minority face obstacles in securing health insurance policies thus raising the cost of medical care. Due to high cost of treatment of chronic diseases, most of the patients succumb to death.

Furthermore, the lack of quality education also denies the minority good employment opportunities, which leads to low income. Consequently, they will be unable to afford the essential commodities in life especially goods pertaining to health. Moreover, a healthy living is parallel to good health, therefore when the minority groups do not eat healthily; they become susceptible to most diseases leading to high mortality rates. Finally, the inability to eradicate racism and ethnicity in the U.S is the major cause of the health disparities.

How to eradicate health disparities

The eradication of racial/ethnic discrimination and promotion of equality in the US will allow the minority to access medication (Satcher, 2000, p.2864). Health providers should concentrate on the diseases/conditions that cause deaths while the US government should monitor closely the health of the minority groups.

Conclusion

The health disparity among the minority groups, especially the blacks, is the main problem, which has contributed to unequal healthcare accessibility in the U.S. but eradication of racism/ethnicity will solve the problem.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). National Center for Health Statistics, Minority Populations. Web.

Satcher, D. (2000). Eliminating global health disparities. Journal of American Medical Association, 284 (22), 2864.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2018, October 10). Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups. https://ivypanda.com/essays/healthy-people/

Work Cited

"Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups." IvyPanda, 10 Oct. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/healthy-people/.

References

IvyPanda. (2018) 'Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups'. 10 October.

References

IvyPanda. 2018. "Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups." October 10, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/healthy-people/.

1. IvyPanda. "Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups." October 10, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/healthy-people/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Healthy People: Health Disparity among the Minority Groups." October 10, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/healthy-people/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1