Health status among the present-day American population has been significantly increased due to the recent technological advance in health care. More and more diseases are cured, and many complex questions are answered. However, despite the fact that the progress has led to the prolonged life of the population, African American people continue to be disproportionally influenced by the inequality in health care status if we compare them to the Caucasian majority of the population (Shi & Singh, 2014).
Therefore, the paper at hand is going to address the health status of this minority group and suggest a health care promotion strategy.
Health Status of the African-American Minority Group
The current tendency in the American health care system consists in transition from the treatment-oriented approach to preventive care. A lot of programs (such as Healthy People 2020, the Obama Administrations Natural Prevention Strategy, and Affordable Care Act) have been launched for the sake of improving the general state of health of the entire population (Shi & Singh, 2014).
However, the problem of the African American minority group is that a lot of its representatives do not have access to healthier meals and other health solutions. Most of products that they consume are fast snacks that contain a lot of salt, sugar, and fat. Low-income people are attracted to affordable prices of such food. There is also an alarming number of alcohol and tobacco shops in the areas where African Americans live. This accounts for the frequency of such conditions as obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc. (Thomeer, 2013).
Health Promotion Defined by the Group
It has been noted by many researchers that the African American group is generally characterized by distrust to the whole system of health care. This attitude is explained by the historical reasons. The most demonstrative example is the Tuskegee syphilis study – medical research that consisted in infecting African American men with syphilis. Most of the participants died in sufferings for the sake of this study. The case led to the appearance of fear of undergoing health examination (Shi & Singh, 2014). That is why African American people prefer relying on their traditional remedies that are usually passed from one generation to another. Moreover, it is also typical to rely on prayer and religion in general (Thomeer, 2013).
However, in recent years, there emerged a tendency to promote health care among the group members. A lot of fairs, seminars, workshops, and other events have already been held to educate African Americans and encourage them to resort to hospital treatment (Purnell, 2012).
Health Disparities of African Americans
The following statistical data reflects the existing health disparities of the given minority group (Shi & Singh, 2014):
Live births
64.5 babies are born per every 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44; twice as many babies die (app. 14 per 100,000) as white babies (app. 6 out of 100,000); the major cause of death is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (took more than 150 lives out of every 100,000 if compared to 65 lives per 100,000 of white newborns).
Mortality
African Americans have the highest mortality rates of all racial minorities. The mortality is 1.3 higher than among white people. Average life expectancy is 70 whereas it is 76 among the white population.
Major causes of death
Heart disease kills app. 140 African American and 95 white people out of every 100,000.
African men are 50% more likely to suffer from lung cancer and die from it (app. 100 African American people out of 100,000 vs. 70 white people out of 100,000).
The situation is similar with prostate cancer among African American men who are twice as likely to have it as white men.
As far as women are concerned, the most common type of cancer is breast cancer. However, it is lower than among white women.
Diabetes rate is higher among African American minorities (33 African Americans vs. 23 white people die out of every 100,000).
African American people make up app. 40% of all AIDS cases currently reported in United States.
Lifestyle
Lifestyle choice is the major underlying cause of poor health statistics of the minority group. Tobacco smoking, obesity, inactivity, drug and alcohol abuse account for the majority of the existing problems.
Heath insurance coverage
App. 13.5% of African Americans are not covered by health insurance.
Suggested Approach to Health Care Promotion
Secondary prevention would be the most effective choice for defining further course of action for health promotion among representatives of the African American minority group. Most of them believe that unhealthy diet, alcohol abuse, and smoking do not undermine health and do not create disease risks. Moreover, they think that stroke, heart attack or diabetes do not require hospitalization. As it has been already mentioned, cultural beliefs and historic prejudice prevent African Americans to go to doctors with their health problems. Thus, any information that would help people decrease the amount of fat in their diet, stop smoking or drinking liquor, and encourage them to transfer to healthier diet would be welcome. It would also be reasonable to launch educational programs in schools promoting healthy life style in order to prevent children from making wrong choices in the future (Purnell, 2012).
References
Purnell, L. D. (2012). Transcultural health care: A culturally competent approach. Philadelphia, PA: FA Davis.
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2014). Delivering health care in America. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Thomeer, M. B. (2013). Sexual minority status and self-rated health: The importance of socioeconomic status, age, and sex. American journal of public health, 103(5), 881-888.