In the year 2014, Black-Americans totaled about 42.3 million, representing thirteen percent of the United States population. Roughly fifty-five percent of the Blacks reside in the Southern states, with New York State having the uppermost sum of Africans (roughly 3.8 million people), whereas the uppermost proportions are witnessed in the District of Columbia (about 50.6 percent) and Mississippi (approximately 38.2 percent). The current paper seeks to analyze the health status of the African-Americans in comparison to the national averages.
The Black-Americans are considered the least healthy racial group in America. The race is an influence in health inequalities. The blacks have suffered racial discrimination in America for many years (George, et al., 2 018). Socially, racial discrimination is connected to inferior employment, housing, income, education, in addition to access to medical facilities; related risks take in occupational risks, exposures to poisonous materials and allergens at home, poor-quality education, absence of obtainability of healthy foodstuffs, relaxed access to illegal alcohol and drugs, violent environs, and ecological exposures.
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In the year 2013, African-Americans had the uppermost age-adjusted mortality level of any racial group (that is, 1083.3 for every 100, 000 average population for African males against 876.8 per 100,000 for white men). For the aggregate population, the rate was about 731.9 for every 100,000 people, thus making the African male rate forty-eight percent greater than the aggregate (Colen et al., 2 018).
In the United States, between the year 1980 and 2014, life expectancy at birth augmented from about 70.0 to 78.8; around 81.2 years for women and about 76.4 years for men. However, life expectancy at birth for Africans is about 75.2 years; roughly 78.1 years for women and 72 years for men. The discrepancy in life expectancy at birth amid Africans and whites diminished from approximately 5.2 years in the year 2004 to around 3.4 years in the year 2014 (George, et al., 2 018). Furthermore, between the year 2004 and the year 2014, the rate of mortality among African males aged 45–54 diminished from 933.3 to 671.8 losses for every 100,000 people (around twenty-eight percent), whereas the death rate for white males remained unchanged (that is about 511.2 deaths for every 100,000 individuals) (Lewis & Van Dyke, 2018).
Possibly African infant mortality offers the clearest view of African-Americans health. Infant mortality rate for blacks has constantly been not less than 2.5 times higher than the infant mortality for whites. Even though the overall infant mortality rate for all racial sets has dropped steadily over the years, the discrepancy between white and African rates remains. In the year 2013, the aggregate United States infant mortality level was about 5.96 for every 1000 live births, while that of Black-American was 11.1 for every 100,000 live births in spite of contemporary advancement (George, et al., 2 018). Furthermore, in the year 2013, the low birth weight rate was about 13.08 % for non-Hispanic Africans, compared to about 6.98 percent for non-Hispanic white. Moreover, the preterm birth rate was 1.6 times greater for Black-American females. In the year 2008, merely 59.1 percent of black females delivering live children had some prenatal care compared to about 72.2 percent of white females.
Over the latest years, the major causes of morbidity include diabetes, heart illness, homicide, and cancer. The African people exhibited a greater decline in mortality rates for cancer, heart disease, in addition to HIV illness constituting the contracting gaps. Furthermore, there was a greater decline in accidental injuries in African men. Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death for a majority of Americans; about forty-six percent of Black-Americans above nineteen years old have heart disease (Colen et al., 2 018). Presently, the primary risk factors for stroke and cardiovascular disease include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, current smoking, diabetes, obesity, and physical inactivity. In the year 2003, the incidence of at least two of these influences was uppermost in Black-Americans. Black-Americans had the uppermost incidence of hypertension between the year 2007 and 2010. What is more, Black-African American females had the uppermost incidence of obesity throughout this period.
The statistics show a relatively multifaceted picture where African, in general, have comparable prevalence rates of mental illnesses and substance use whites, nonetheless altogether suffer a greater incidence of severe mental health in addition to legal issues, with disturbing impacts (Lewis & Van Dyke, 2018). The discrepancy between lower prevalence and upper incidence originates from lengthier duration, given lower utilization of and access to medical care facilities, poorer quality of medical care services, and worse challenges of comorbidities for minority, inter alia. Generally, the bigger effect of mental health conditions for Africans originated from structural aspects which take in racism poverty, and culture, such that the strain produced by the collaboration of inequality, poverty, and racism affects Africans more than on other non-minority groups.
Evidently, concentrating on health risks solely will not be favorable to addressing health inequalities amongst Black-Americans, since structural factors principally trigger their worse health outcomes as well as smaller lifespans. Addressing the social determinants of health such as poverty, racial discrimination, environment, incarceration, and violence, will likely produce a better outcome for African-American health than risk lessening initiatives. Despite the fact the ACA has extended access to blacks, health care for individuals with an unhealthy way of life and cultural and social barriers to access will have inadequate impacts on decreasing health inequalities of blacks in American.
References
Colen, C. G., Ramey, D. M., Cooksey, E. C., & Williams, D. R. (2018). Racial disparities in health among nonpoor African Americans and Hispanics: the role of acute and chronic discrimination. Social Science & Medicine , 199 , 167-180.
George, K. M., Folsom, A. R., Steffen, L. M., Wagenknecht, L. E., & Mosley, T. H. (2018). Abstract P107: Differences in Cardiovascular Mortality Risk Among African Americans in the Minnesota Heart Survey, 1985-2015, versus African Americans in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC) Cohort: 1987-2015.
Lewis, T. T., & Van Dyke, M. E. (2018). Discrimination and the health of African Americans: The potential importance of intersectionalities. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 27 (3), 176-182.
