A 2017 research study shows that about thirteen percent of the US population were African-Americans. Formally referred to as people of color, black Americans are believed to entirely be descendants of African slaves who were forcefully brought to America between the 17 th to 19 th centuries. The history of forced immigration influenced the misery of dehumanization and the de-culturing of black Americans. This misery has run through centuries, and until today, the effects are still being experienced, although less intense. Today, black Americans are credited most of the American vitality, contemporary cultural life in particular. However, racism and ethnicity remain a defining tool of stark reality. This paper provides a detailed comparison and contrast between the health status of African Americans and the national average and approaches to reduce the health disparities between the blacks and whites.
The health status of black Americans is relatively low compared to whites. Research has shown that, although the minorities have better health than whites in general genealogy, they suffer from healthcare disparities associated with their cultural, economic, social, and political differences (Fiscella & Sanders, 2016). In 2017, about 10.6% of black Americans were not insured, while 5.9% of the whites were insured. Additionally, only 89.4 of African-Americans had health insurance compared to 93.7% for white Americans. Also, census data reports that 12.1% of African Americans under 65 years lack health insurance. In addition, 13.8% of African Americans have poor health compared to only 8.3% in whites. Other disparities include conditions like obesity and mental illnesses, where 80% are obese compared to 64.8% in whites, and 8.7% received mental health services compared to 18.6% in whites (Carratala, 2020) . This is a clear indication of health disparities facing African Americans.
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A 2010 study portrayed that disparities between blacks and whites in America have been widening progressively over the years, breaking the overall aim of eliminating these disparities in the US and Chicago (Assari, 2018). Besides health, African Americans experience huge nutrition disparities. They often have poorer nutrient profiles and eating behaviors compared to the white and national average. African Americans' diet has a higher fat content, fewer fruits and vegetables, grains, and a high salt amount. Although these disparities may be racial, socioeconomic factors, such as low income, are huge contributors. The poor diet results in a higher prevalence of nutrition-related diseases among African Americans compared to the national average. Such diseases include obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases (Wirth et al., 2017). According to the CDC, 13.2% of African-Americans have chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, which is nearly double that of whites: 7.6% (Goode, 2017) . Due to multifaceted state approaches and poor diets, black Americans remain disproportionally affected by heart diseases, diabetes, and other similar illnesses.
Barriers to health for the black American is a cumulative result of past and current discrimination within the US culture. Past experiences of terming Africans as slaves have progressively cumulated the mentality of non-standard black creatures lacking self-drive, which has led to underestimating their abilities as human beings. Therefore, the US culture has viewed Africans as tools to be used for their success. Due to cultural discrimination, African-Americans have access to limited education. As a result, African-Americans often remain underemployed, working under the whites' supervision, leading to low social economy for the blacks. Moreover, due to lower education and identity discrimination, blacks are less considered in leadership and participation in specific social activities, which lowers their sociopolitical involvement (Tate, 2018). This chain of under-handling the blacks’ potential in American society has hindered many blacks from accessing better living standards, including balanced health care access.
In order to promote the health status of blacks Americans, confident organizations have been expanding Medicare towards the rural areas. A study showed that most black Americans are low-income adults living mainly in rural areas (Caldwell et al., 2017). Hence, by extending healthcare facilities towards the interior, the disparity will be reduced. Another activity has been promoting African education programs. Through better education, black Americans can perform effective healthcare services, especially when it comes to supporting their race within American society. Many organizations are calling for blacks to join US learning institutions for higher education to enhance blacks' voice. Besides, democracy has taken the rule; therefore, leadership and social and political participation are open for every citizen, whether white or non-white.
Among the numerous approaches of health promotion for the blacks, supporting the African-American education is the best because, by educating the individuals, they will be able to participate confidently to fight for their rights and positions in all events like politics, employment, and resource distribution (Assari, 2018). Through education, black Americans will be employed in health centers at the primary level to prevent the onset of various diseases, undermining their colleagues' health and that of other Americans equally or better. In addition, black physicians can treat those blacks who are currently suffering various forms of sicknesses at the secondary level and even help those in critical situations at the tertiary level to recover and manage their bills. Moreover, education will help blacks to acquire better positions to complain about health care distribution disparities.
Many cultural practices need to be considered while creating a care plan for patients. Various cultures have taboos against pain relievers such as opioid medications while emphasizing herbs' use. Such beliefs help create competent nursing practices and a conducive environment between healthcare providers and patients, leading to better outcomes (Peckham et al., 2017). Nursing practices should employ a cultural competence health care delivery model to promote health status, which encompasses cultural awareness, desire, skill, knowledge, and encounters. In this case, care providers will be able to involve the black individual in an interaction in which he/she will disclose better information about his/her health status, resulting in better health outcomes.
In a nutshell, there exists a great disparity between the health status of African-Americans and white Americans. This boundary has existed for over three centuries since Africans migrated to America, either willingly or by force. With the aim of searching jobs, the whites have mistreated them discriminatively over the years. Failure to acquire better education contributed progressively to discrimination due to the perception that people of color cannot perform specific important tasks. As a result, blacks are always left behind in many fields, such as income generation, political involvement, and access to social services and economic resources, resulting in a chain of discrimination. Nevertheless, within the last century, many blacks have been allowed to access US higher education resulting in a great reduction of this gap. The issue of democracy has paved in ways for black Americans to be involved in politics and leadership. Therefore, with the actions taken towards eliminating social inequality, this gap with reduce.
References
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