Promoting Health Amongst African-Americans

Health Status

Health promotion among diverse populations

Health status of a minority group: African-Americans

As is the case with all precious commodities, good health is not distributed equally throughout the population. Profound disparities exist between genders, ethnic groups, religious groups, and also between races. While some of these differences may be attributed to genetics, environmental and social trends as well as epigenetic factors (the interaction between environment and one's genetic makeup) are also factors. This paper will specifically focus on the current health status of African-Americans as relative to whites and to the American population at large and suggest interventions to improve that status.

African-Americans: Current health status

Overall, the health status of African-Americans as a group is considerably worse than that of the general population based upon a wide array of health indicators. African-Americans are disproportionately more likely to suffer from and die from chronic illnesses like heart disease and high blood pressure.: African-Americans have the highest death rates from heart disease and stroke compared with all other racial and ethnic populations; a disparity also found in age groups younger than 85 years of age as well as older Americans ("Black or African-American populations," 2015). Hypertension rates are also higher for African-American adults ("Black or African-American populations," 2015).

One of the reasons the prognosis for African-Americans is so poor regarding their health status is the prevalence of obesity within this demographic. Although the U.S. As a whole is heavier than it has been in the past, the obesity rates amongst African-Americans are far higher. Obesity is linked to a number of chronic conditions and negative long-term health outcomes, including diabetes -- the prevalence of diabetes amongst African-Americans is nearly twice as high as those of whites ("Black or African-American populations," 2015). Obesity amongst African-American women is particularly chronic: "50% of African-American women develop Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime" (Dingfelder 2013). While it might be assumed that higher rates of poverty and a lack of access to safe places to exercise are partially the source of this trend, it alone cannot explain these statistics, given that amongst African-American women, increasing levels of education and higher economic status do not mitigate the risk of obesity to the same degree as with Caucasian women. While "issues of food and recreation justice and high levels of racial and environmental stress are creating the perfect storm for rising rates of obesity," genetic and cultural issues may also be a factor as well as the psychological stresses of racism (Dingfelder 2013).

High rates of fast food consumption further contribute to high obesity rates, coupled with low rates of available supermarkets. Other contributing factors include the finding that "African-American women who have children young, are overweight at the time of pregnancy, or gain an excess amount of weight during pregnancy have a higher prevalence of obesity compared to white women" (Friday 2012). In other words, factors which compound obesity in all demographics have a particularly notable chance in raising an African-American woman's risk for obesity. Obese mothers are more likely to give birth to children who suffer a high risk of obesity and in the African-American demographic, rates of childhood obesity are far higher than in the general population. At present, 35.9% of African-American children are overweight or obese, versus 31.7% of all children. The sooner a child becomes obese, the more difficult it is to change ingrained eating habits: 11.4% of African-American children are already obese ("Overweight and obesity amongst African-American youth," 2014). African-American children have fewer opportunities for physical activities than white children in their environments and African-American parents are more likely to report logistical challenges (such as conflicts between school and work) in getting children to activities. It is perhaps because of this limited amount of outdoor and recreational time that "African-American youths spend more time watching television compared with Hispanic or white youths. African-American children and adolescents watch an average of five hours and 54 minutes daily, while their Hispanic peers watch five hours and 21 minutes and their white peers watch three hours and 36 minutes" ("Overweight and obesity amongst African-American youth," 2014). Excessive television viewing is positively associated with lower physical activity, exposure to advertising for highly caloric products, and excessive caloric intake due to snacking

Interventions

Primary interventions

Preventing obesity and engaging in early screening for health-related conditions are the best ways to prevent many of the illnesses currently afflicting African-Americans. Given the extent to which lower-income children rely upon school lunches for providing the majority of their calories for the day, improving the quality of school lunches has been an important component of anti-obesity initiatives. Keeping physical activity in school in the form of P.E. And recess is also essential, despite pressure to cut these parts of the school day in the interest of preparing students for high-stakes testing.

As part of the recent Affordable Care Act, access to health insurance and preventative screening for chronic diseases like heart disease and hypertension can be facilitated to a greater degree than ever before. Patients must be made aware of their elevated risk factors and even patients without disease markers should be encouraged to engage in appropriate disease mitigation efforts, like eating a healthy diet, smoking cessation, and exercise

Secondary interventions

For patients already beginning to show signs of poorer health indicators, physicians can work with patients on setting goals to mitigate the need for more intensive strategies in the future, such as designing a diet and exercise plan for someone who is pre-diabetic, to reduce his or her chance of becoming dependent upon insulin in the future.