Health Promotion in Minority Population
Minority populations face health disparities worldwide because of marginalization and lack of access to basic needs such as education and healthcare. In the United States of America, various minority groups are currently facing health disparities due to the sociopolitical climate, socioeconomic inequalities, and low literacy levels. In this paper, I will discuss health promotion within minority groups,focusing on the African American community.
Current Health Status of this Group
African American’s current healthstatus is still lacking behind in comparison with other groups such as white Americans. The health disparity between black and white Americans is caused by social and economic inequality that exists between the two groups. For a long time, the life expectancy among African Americans was shorter than their white counterparts. However, over the past 20 years, the life expectancy for black Americans has increased by at least 25%; this is according to a study conducted by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) (2017). The same research indicates that young African Americans die of illnesses and other conditions thattypically occur among white Americans at old age. Lifestyle diseases such as hypertension and diabetes affect young Americans because of nutritional challenges in the community. African American men are also less likely to visit a doctor when they fall ill as compared to white Americans. This failure to seek medical attention affects the health and life expectancy of African Americans.
Influence of race and ethnicity on health for African Americans
Race and ethnicity play a role in the healthinequalities faced by African Americans. Even when socioeconomic differences are eliminated, African Americans still face difficulties accessing healthcare and a healthy lifestyle. The African American health trends have led to adverse effects in the community with some of the causes leading to hundreds of avoidable deaths of African America (CDC, 2017).
Racism in America has existed for over 400 years following years of slavery of African Americans. After abolishing slavery, African Americans faced discrimination from white Americans with limited access to jobs and social amenities such as hospitals and schools. This kind of institutional racism allowed the administration to marginalize the African American community by segregating them to certain lower-class living areas with minimal access to healthcare and nutrition. For years, African Americans have fought for better healthcare for their community, such as better hospitals, health insurance, and affordable healthcare and equality in treatment (Taylor, 2020).For example, African American women have often complained of unfair treatment during labor and childbirth. This is as a result of racist beliefs that African American women feel less pain. This stereotype leads to medical negligence, which can result in loss of life both for the mother and the newborn.
African Americans also have limited access to proper nutrition due to racisms. African Americas do not have the same job opportunities as white Americans. Therefore African Americans tend to have a more inadequate diet than white Americans, withsome families living on one meal a day (AdminericaB, 2017). The cost of healthy, organic foods is too high for some African Americans leading to the consumption of unhealthy foods such as fast foods.
Health Disparities that Exist Within African American Communities
One of the most significant health disparities that exist among African Americans is that African Americans develop some lifestyle diseases earlier than white people in American. This means that African Americans are more likely to die at a young age from illnesses that kill white Americans at a later stage in life. Chronic diseases are diagnosed later in black Americans than in white Americans. The reason for late diagnosis is the unwillingness among black men to seek medical attention (AdminericaB, 2017). The hesitation to seek medical care is often due to the high cost of healthcare, and lack of access to affordable healthcare insurance.
Healthdisparities between black and white Americans have reduced, although the poor and uninsured black Americans still face health inequality. Studies show that high-income blackAmericans have better healthcare than low-income black Americans(AdminericaB, 2017). This indicates that health disparity affects people depending on their socioeconomic status within the same race or ethnic group.
Nutritional Challenges for African Americans
Because of the high poverty rate among Africa Americans, the community faces nutritional challenges, with millions suffering from lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. According to (Taylor 2020), more than 20 % of African American households live below the poverty line as per the federal government standards. This means that over 20 % of the African American population cannot afford a daily nutritious diet and survive mostly on starchy foods and unhealthy foods that contain additives such as preservatives and sugars. These foods lead to unhealthy weight gain that may lead to obesity and high blood pressure.
Health Barriers
Culture
African American culture affects their health condition. For instance, African Americans are less likely to seek medical care, and one of the reasons is it is a culture within black men to seek medical attention only when they are ill rather than going for regular checkups (CDC, 2017). African Americans have a culture of eating certain foods that may add to their health disparity. The interest in fried foods can be detrimental to the community’s health.
Education
For a long time, African Americans were less educated than white Americans due to racism. However, this has changed in the recent past as more black Americans have gone past high school level education, with manyseeking post-graduate training (CDC, 2017). Education plays a role in community health. With high numbers of illiterate people, more African Americans are unaware of health matters such as proper nutrition, hygiene practices and
Socioeconomics
African Americans are at a disadvantage when it comes to their socioeconomic position as a community. African Americans have faced discrimination at work for decades, with many earning less than their white counterparts (CDC, 2017). Mass incarceration of black American men has also led to economic disparities between the two groups. This affects the community’s access to health care and proper nutrition.
Sociopolitical
The American political climate has been unfavorable to back Americans due to institutionalized racism. Black Americanshave had a less political representation than white Americans. This denies African Americans opportunities to improve their health status by influencing policies that promote health in their community.
HealthPromotion Activities
Some of the health promotion activities practiced by this group include exercise such as sporting activities. African Americans are known for their prowess in games such as athletics, football, and tennis, among other sports. African Americans of higher social classes try to maintain a healthy diet by consuming organic foods (CDC, 2017). The number of African Americans seeking healthcare and going for regular checkups has also been on a steady increase over the years.
Health Promotion and Prevention Plan
There are three levels of health promotion and prevention, namely primary, secondary, and tertiary. The most effective health promotion plan for African Americans would be the primary prevention plan. In this plan, disease and injury prevention is a priority. Prevention can be done through patient and community education on healthy living, improving the community’s living standards, tackling institutional racism, and providing quality and affordable healthcare to the city(Institute for Work and Health, 2015). The primary level of healthpreventing plan is suitable for this group since most of the health issues affecting them are preventable; for example, their eating habits can be changed, and their healthcare provision improved.
Cultural Beliefs or Practices to consider when creating a Care Plan
When creating a health plan for the African American community, it is essential to consider some of their cultural beliefs and practices that may affect their health. The first consideration would be to address African American’s men’s attitude towards seeking healthcare; they need to be encouraged to seek regular checkups (McPhillips, 2018). The community’s regard for mental health should also be considered. The stigmatization of mental health and the conditions of mental health hospitals need to be addressed.
References
AdminericaB. (2017, September 15). African American Health Disparities – Diversity Nursing: Minority Nurses, Ethnic Nurses. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from https://diversitynursing.com/african-american-health-disparities/
CDC. (2017, July 03). African American Health. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html
Institute for Work and Health. (2015, April). Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from https://www.iwh.on.ca/what-researchers-mean-by/primary-secondary-and-tertiary-prevention
McPhillips, D. (2018, September 25). The Relationship of Race to Community Health: A U.S. News analysis of race, ethnicity, and place spotlights potential drivers of change for the nation’s health. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from https://www.usnews.com/news/healthiest-communities/articles/2018-09-25/the-burden-of-race-on-community-health-in-america
Taylor, — J., Jamila TaylorDirector of Health Care Reform and Senior Fellow, Taylor, J., Director of Health Care Reform and Senior Fellow, Kahlenberg, — B., Stettner, — B., . . . Abelow, — B. (2020, May 07). Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans. Retrieved August 8, 2020, from https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-african-americans/