Cultural Practices and Religious Beliefs

Cultural practices and religious beliefs of various communities have significant effects on the health services provision to the group. This is particularly so for those people who are strongly and deeply conservative of their traditions. The African-American community is such group that is affected by the culture in the pursuit to better health care services (in Shaw-Taylor & in Tuch, 2007).

The population of the African-American persons in Brooklyn New York is quite high. The census done in 2011 released their overall population at 34,917 people. The population of the people living in the red hook houses is about 9,512 people (Roberts, 2009). The population is predominantly made of the youth, with only about 28% constituting the population of adults. The population breakdown indicates that there are more females than males.

The population of the African-American is majorly constituted by large numbers of uneducated persons, with up to 68% of the population not having formal education. In addition, the population is highly unemployed, with most doing manual labor and other small jobs. As a result, the income of the persons is quite low with about 60% earning less than $20,000 and 40% getting less than $10,000 and only 10% making $35,000 and above (Roberts, 2009). This indicates the very high poverty level of the people. However, the people that live in the area red hook neighborhood, code 11231 are quite better off as they own houses and only 19.1% live below the poverty line.

Most of the population in red hook Brooklyn does not have health insurance, with only 40% being insured. Of this 40%, the major group insured is those who live in the area zip code 11231. About 19.1% have critical illnesses such as asthma and diabetes with fewer numbers in the area code 11231. Only about 33% of these people have sought medical attention from the government health care centers (Shelley, Russell, Parikh & Fahs, 2011).

This population has its beliefs and health practices just like any other group from different parts of the world. The bond of kinship is strongly respected and adhered to. The people value greatly the family and spiritual convictions (in Shaw-Taylor & in Tuch, 2007). Many African-American persons do not belief in the healthcare system, mainly due to history and experiences of racial abuse. They perceive the health care as demeaning and inhumane to the people. Some of the people also do not trust the healthcare systems due to fright of racial segregation, medical complexity involved and feeling of alienation and subjection.

There are two key factors that pose a great challenge to the health of this community. These are the poor living conditions that make the prevalence for disease causing micro organisms to thrive and spread fast. The other issue is the poverty that makes the population not access medical healthcare. The most common diseases are asthma and diabetes. This is because the place is damp and highly populated hence no free circulation of air. However, the community health center and the health department of New York are working together to help curb this issue by educating the people, and advocating for preventive measures (Shelley et al., 2011).

Moreover, the people in this area seem not to realize their rights to better housing as most of their apartments are infested with moulds. Advocacy for better housing and housing facilities is another key preventive measure for the spread of these diseases. Other measures taken to combat the problem are that initiative to plant trees hence, bringing clean air. Poor diets and eating habits are also a key problem to the health of the people.

A part of the community believes that illness is as a result of natural imbalance between some internal and external forces. Others perceive it as the will of God or others as punishment from God. In pursuing treatment, the people result to mainly self treatment with others opting to allow God to heal them from the illness (Weber, 2009).