improving the healthcare outcomes for children and adults living with obesity (population at risk) in Wayne County, Michiga

Healthcare

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Healthcare

In the United States, the healthcare system is unique compared to other developed states across the world. Different states in the U.S. have different health systems, universal healthcare coverages, and healthcare policies. Generally, the United States healthcare system is hybrid. Some healthcare determinants have led to poor healthcare outcomes in areas such as quality and service delivery. As a result, social determinants such as race, education, poverty, income, housing, and rural-urban residence have contributed to what kind of healthcare a citizen receives. Disparities in income distribution is a challenge in improving the healthcare outcomes for children and adults living with obesity (population at risk) in Wayne County, Michigan.

In Michigan, children between 10 to 17 years old and adults with 20 years old and above make 21.8% of the population with obesity (Koh, 2018). Michigan ranks number five out of all states as a vulnerable state to obesity. This state statistics involves data on childhood and adult obesity, health issues linked to obesity, and prevention measures taken by Michigan to lower obesity. In Wayne County, healthy lifestyle indicators to those of the whole Michigan state reveals existing disparities in the distribution of income whereby those children and adults with obesity come from low-income populations in Wayne County. The county only has 33% of adults obese, while 12.9% is a low-income child obese.

Determinants of Health in Wayne County

In my community, social determinants influence healthcare outcomes and consist of all that makes people healthy and others unhealthy. They are conditions in which individuals are born, grow, work, and live. In Wayne county, education, housing, income, and discrimination determine people’s health conditions (King et al., 2019). The interaction between Wayne people and their environment worsens undesirable health outcomes. For instance, in Wayne County, people have no access to clean water and live in areas where air pollution is prevalent due to poverty. Their poverty cannot enable them to maintain a good dietary pattern, thus worsen obesity, especially among adults and children.

Prevalent Health Problems in Wayne County

In Wayne County, Wayne Metropolitan Community Action empowers low-income citizens and strengthen communities to access quality healthcare. The most prevalent issue identified is the lack of health insurance coverage. This insurance coverage is a critical component in having quality healthcare among all people, both low-income and high-income populations. It tries to bridge the gap between poor and wealthy families in accessing healthcare (Friedman et al., 2017). For instance, insured teenagers in Wayne County are likely to be healthier and have low rates of avoidable hospitalizations and childhood deaths than their uninsured children. Also, about 17% of adults in Wayne County do not have health insurance, and approximately 4% of young adults do not have as well.

Another prevalent health issue is disparities. It begins at birth and continues into adulthood. Thousands of citizens of Wayne County face inequalities in accessing healthcare in public care facilities. Blacks have poorer health status than whites. These backs survive with chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and heart diseases. They skip follow-up care and do not have opportunities to access online health care services to manage their health conditions. Also, care disparities have led to difficulties in the provision of adequate home and community-related alternatives for backs and disabled people. Almost 68.2% of people from low-income populations do not have an interest in using telehealth to connect with nurses due to poverty.

Obesity Rates Among Children and Adults in Michigan, Wayne County

Michigan faces weight issues among children and adults. 31.1% of Michigan citizens have a weight problem (obese). In Wayne County, the obesity rate is 23.3% of its adult citizens. Children between the age of 10 and 17 and adults above 20 years old are obese (Kan et al., 2017). People with obesity in Wayne County, according to health reports, take a higher amount of energy than they do physical activities. Also, societal values and norms influence obesity among this population. It is through a culture that determines what this population feed and how it views body weight. How much a person thinks. Both culture and religion influence dietary preferences that are the critical cause of obesity.

Concussively, obesity among children and adults in Michigan, Wayne County, is a public health issue. The healthcare outcomes for this population at risk are undesirable, and the critical health determinants contributing to the problem are income disparities, poverty, education, and housing. The prevalent health issues in Wayne County are ack of health insurance cover and healthcare disparities. Healthcare outcomes for the c community can be improved through solving the current health problems and finding a long-term solution to obesity among children and adults. The care sector needs enough funding to ensure equality and quality services to all people regardless of their income level.

References

Kan, K., Lichtenstein, R., Famulare, M., Jensen, A., Kowalski-Dobson, T., Pettway, J., ... & Patel, M. (2017). Health Insurance Enrollment of Children and Young Adults in Wayne County, Michigan: A Qualitative Evaluation. Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice, 10(4), 9.

King, A., Foley, D., Arfken, C., Aaron, C., Sung, L., & Hlavaty, L. (2019). Carfentanil-Associated Mortality in Wayne County, Michigan, 2015–2017. American journal of public health, 109(2), 300-302.

Koh, K., Elder, T. E., Grady, S. C., Darden, J. T., & Vojnovic, I. (2018). Explained and unexplained racial and regional inequality in obesity prevalence in the United States. Ethnicity & health, 1-14.