Health Program Bronx Racial Disparities in the Healthcare System

America's healthcare system is one of the most visible indicators of the broad array of social, economic and racial inequalities that still impact American life. For racial minorities such as African-Americans and Latinos, health outcomes are disproportionately worse than they are for white patients. This denotes a core inequality that goes to the root of our society. Outreach, education and advocacy programs such as the one described here in relation to minority populations living in the Bronx helps to provide a valuable case demonstration of this public health issue.

Collaborating Organizations:

The pressing racial issues that are evidenced in our imbalanced healthcare system serve as the impetus for the agenda and actions taken up by the REACH Bronx organization. This action-group is actually described as a coalition of groups and demonstrates the considerable push from a wide variance of parties to bring greater socioeconomic equality to such impoverished urban settings. According to Calman's (2005) article, the project came together under the mobilization of a broad cross-section of groups. Calman tells that "nearly forty community groups representing the 280,000 residents of four ZIP codes in the South Bronx, including social service agencies, health care providers, housing development corporations, an afterschool program, and faith-based institutions, have joined to address these health disparities." (Calman, p. 492)

Among these community groups would be those involved in the prevention and treatment of heart disease and diabetes, two causes of mortality that disproportionately impact poor African-American and Latino communities. Moreover, this collective of smaller groups would gain much of its resource support from broader endorsing agencies. Accordingly, Calman reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention channeled a sizeable grant to the coalition under the auspices of its Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH). Additional funding...

Other local funders, not identified by name in the report, would help to provide resource and monetary support.
Factors Influencing Decision-Makers:

One key factor influencing both those in the coalition and these broader agencies responsible for providing funding support is the sometimes inestimable impact that sociological disparities can have on the health consequences for racial 'minorities.' This is a driving imperative for a program that centers on improving the distribution of health knowledge with an emphasis on self-advocacy. This area is cited as one of the most troubling areas of distinction between white and black patient populations and has a significant bearing on the quality of treatment that individuals will tend to receive. On this point, Calman remarks that surveyed participants in a study of quality of health treatment as a function of racial differences have expressed significant feelings of mistrust and resentment. The need to remove some of these barriers between patients and healthcare providers is a prominent one and a driving factor for decision-makers.

Calman indicates that "the participants expressed the belief that self-advocacy is important to obtaining necessary, appropriate health care, but many found it difficult to carry out. Some did not understand how to advocate for the best care because they did not know what care they needed." (Calman, p. 492)

Perhaps more than any single factor driving decision-makers, the need to provide minority populations with an understanding of the value of self-advocacy and with the tools to engage in self-advocacy both emerge from this discussion as practical and attainable through such outreach programs.

Levels of Influence for Health Related Behavior:

One of the most critical levels of influence on health related behavior is that which pertains to the notion of health belief. Belief is often one of the most powerful…