The United States has more extensive racial and ethnical diversity than any other place in the world. There are six different races officially recognized by the government of the United States. These groups include the Asian American, Alaskan natives, Hawaiian, African American, Indians, white Americans and the Pacific Islanders. Fundamentally, the American Indians otherwise referred to as Native Americans or indigenous Americans have been classified by the US Census Bureau as among the most extensive racial and ethnic group among the minorities found in the US (Kim et al. 2014). This paper seeks explicitly to analyze the health status of the American Indian minority, address the disparities and the barriers to health and how the same can promote.
Statistics and data recorded indicate that the American Indian people were the founders of the current United States (Kim et al. 2014). Further collated data also suggest that this minority group has always been experiencing lower health status second to the African-Americans as compared to other races in the minorities. There has been a record of low life expectancy and constant disease challenges among the Native Americans. Statistics further indicate that majority of this people suffer heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, TB and malignant neoplasm. Other conditions include liver infections, homicide and suicide, and other respiratory ailments which are reported as the leading causes of death. Health-wise, this minority group has an appalling low life expectancy less than any other ethnical group in the US (Kim et al. 2014). This health challenge has been attributed to several factors, such as racial discrimination, limited access to health facilities, inadequate education and the cultural differences.
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Socioeconomically, the Indian Americas are much more disadvantaged. There are low rates of education. Basically, it is realizable that almost every adult in this group has no high school diploma or proper formal training. Lack of knowledge or skills fundamentally reflects the inability of this people to get meaningful employment or source of income (Carreon & Baumeister, 2015). In the same breath, this situation also posits a challenge of accessing health services or appreciating and addressing the health problem. Similarly, the Indian American has remained poor for quite some time, the high level of poverty rate among this minority group has majorly contributed to the poor health status among them. Poverty is always a barrier to accessing quality reasonable health services. Poverty also implies that the American Indians cannot afford even a simple medical health insurance coverage plan for oneself. Relating to the above, it is also evident that American Indians families live with no work or meaningful employment. Proportionately, this situation indicates that there is a challenge or rather minimal access to neither health services nor health insurance covers offered by employers (Carreon & Baumeister, 2015). Fundamentally the social and cultural activities among this minority group itself is a challenge. Majority of the population are smokers, binge drinkers, and drug abusers.
Health promotions among this minority group focus on having innovative approaches aimed at decreasing disparities and advance the health services. Proportionally, the focus is on public health promotion, disease prevention, intervention and ethical management of health functions and projects (Chen at al. 2018). Health promotion is defined by conducting massive campaigns on health issues and cure awareness. In this regard, it is notable that health promotion interventions are essential strategies to condense the existing cultural, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical health barriers associated with disparities in the health status. In addressing this, the best approach will not be the secondary or the tertiary level. The best approach here will be the mass or population approach as described at the primary level. This strategy is directed to the whole population un-discriminatively, the target is the social, economic, behavioral and lifestyle changes. It has been discovered that the cause of disparities is discrimination, lack of education, poverty and mainly the culture and lifestyle of the Asian Americans. This situation makes the population/mass approach the best mechanisms for addressing the stated challenges. To achieve this approach, there should be legislation and rules on health, conduction education on healthy behaviors, safe habits and environment, and conduct preventive measures such as immunizations. This is a task to be carried out by the public sector and the primary health care providers.
In conclusion, it is notable that their disparities in health among the Asian American minorities have existed for decades, the gaps have been on the rise, and the poor health status of this group has made it worse, however interestingly, these disparities in the health services may be improved and alleviated. This is achievable through offering proper education to the Asian Americans, providing sources of income and employment opportunities and primarily conducting health campaigns awareness and change on cultural, social lifestyle. Achieve this; there should be legislation and rules on health, conduction education on healthy and safe habits, and conduct preventive measures such as immunizations.
References
Chen Jr, M. S., Chow, E. A., & Nguyen, T. T. (2018). The Asian American Network for Cancer Awareness, Research, and Training (AANCART)'s contributions toward reducing Asian American cancer health disparities, 2000-2017. Cancer, 124 , 1527.
Carreon, D. C., & Baumeister, S. E. (2015). Health care access among Asian American subgroups: the role of residential segregation. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 17 (5), 1451-1457.
Kim, W., Keefe, R. H., & Linn, B. K. (2014). Asian-American health disparities. Encyclopedia of primary prevention and health promotion (Pp: 431-9). New York: Springer.
