Unit10SWHPP

Health and health care inequalities

Name

Institution

Racial inequalities and discrimination

African Americans bear disproportionate burden in injury, disease morbidity, disability and mortality. This disadvantage is mostly related to age-related mortality. African Americans are significantly at risk for early death compared to the native community. The overall death rate of death among the African Americans in the US is equivalent to that of the natives thirty years ago (Dreyer, Brettle, & Roderick, 2020). The premature death is caused by various disorders such as obesity, cardiovascular heart disease, and hypertension. For example, the cases of death due to heart-related diseases is higher among the African Americans than any other race group in the United States. These health challenges occur in the context of increasing inequalities in the rate of disease infection.

Economic differences cannot explain the difference in health inequalities even when socioeconomic status is controlled. Differences in skin tone may be the basis of the discrimination in health status. The health disparities that negatively affect the African Americans arise from many sources including social inequalities, inherited health risks, and lifestyle patterns. Health disparities could also be caused by race-based discrimination. The concept of place or geographical location is important in explaining contribution of social injustice to health risks. Various studies shows that neighborhood is important in mediating access to social connections and opportunities, all which are factors that affect health status. When neighborhood is characterized by segregation, often linked to racial concentration, then African Americans have higher rates of mortality and morbidity. Residential segregation and discrimination that creates concentrated neighborhoods where residents are poor are social spaces with concentrated health-related problems. African Americans have higher exposure to stressful environments because of fewer resources.

African American, a poor racial minority has poorer health status. The poor community is less likely to have sufficient health and social services and this create a problem of timely access to medical services. Second, the community environment expose the African American to health hazards such as air pollution, dirt, and water contamination (Barsanti & Salmi, 2017). Moreover, concentration of social inequalities and poverty and it related characteristics such as substance abuse, anxiety, unemployment, and crime often creates social environment that lessen social connectedness. Researchers link the idea of biological responses that may be triggered by neighborhood stressors. There is correlation between residential segregation and social inequality. There are different factors that concentrate social stressors which trigger risks of heart disease, cognitive impairment, and chronic inflammation. African Americans who mostly live in unhealthy environment responds at a biological levels with elevated levels of hormones, this response create specific disease processes.

Ethics

The health disparities that exist in the US are problematic because they demonstrate the old system of injustice based on race and social status. The system of injustices in health care is an ethical problem and, therefore, states of affairs that exemplify these kind of injustices are ethical problems. Health disparities are kinds of injustices among the African Americans. Members of society receive social benefits in exchange for paying taxes and adhering to set rules. When African Americans are subjected to burdens of taxes and they do not get the basic benefits, a serious wring is committed (Jones, 2016). The African Americans do not experience reasonable health outcomes when compared to the native Whites. Health disparities based on ethnic and racial lines are disadvantage to members of the society.

The moral implication of lack of ethics in health care is that differences in access and quality of health care result to substantive inequalities. The African Americans are less able to enjoy rights to pursuit of happiness and life. Health disparities amount to classism and racism because they result to preexisting inequalities suffered by the vulnerable members of Black communities. The African Americans are historically disenfranchised by past laws and medical practices. Moreover, health disparities have fueled mistrust of medical practices based on past practices and injustices, discouraging the blacks from seeking care (Cochran & Barnes, 2017). Mistrust has further widened the health disparities. Another implication of health disparities among the blacks is that it impedes access to quality care and impair quality of care to the Black community. When the limited resources are diverted to cover the patients who have serious conditions because of their economic position, every American suffer. For example, uninsured patients cause negative impact for the insured people. This means that existence of health disparities is moral wrong.

Whether the disparities in health care are caused by sociocultural factors, differences in income, or treatment decisions, they are unjustified and should be eliminated. Doctors should ensure racial prejudice does not impact clinical judgment. Ethical and health care policy must be considered to improve health care for African Americans. There are many caused of health care disparities and this include: race, gender differences, health literacy, and age. As health and wellness is a universal need, with health impact, hospitals should support efforts to ensure access to high-quality medication. Advocating for reforms in public policy to remove health access barriers through insurance and universal health coverage is an ethical imperative. Successful implementation of such medical policy will reduce health disparities and disparities in pain care

Policies to reduce disparities

There are wide range of policies to help United States to support equitable health. Improving health and reducing health disparities are important issues among the Blacks. Investing in health reduce poverty and increase economic growth and human capabilities. There are two main policy action on addressing health care inequities among the African American. These are based on the closing health gaps and targeted programs for the vulnerable population. Results of study demonstrate that health disparities are priority for the United State federal government, however, clear targets and system of impact assessment to ascertain the quality of the intervention are missing. The impact of policies in place to reduce racial inequalities will be desirable if actions are combined across social determinants through federal, state and local government. Political commitment is high in state and federal government in reducing health disparities more so in African American community. Policies to take racial inequalities in health and healthcare are common in United State. The context of such policies vary across states, reflecting different social and political ideologies. Recognizing racial inequalities in health care is not enough, good governance is needed to strength the federal and states capacity. The outcomes of selected policies should be monitored and strengthened to be adopted in other contexts.

Advocacy methods

Advocacy for racial equalities in health care practices has been through Non-Governmental networking and protest. One of the strengths of NGOs for advocating equality in health care lies in their networking abilities. It enables these organization to share their voices even with limited financial resources. African Americans have engaged in protests in many political and social forums. Protesters target major forum or summit calling attention to fair and accessible social amenities and pressing for change. Protests reach wide audience, however it can result to chaos and social disorder.

References

Barsanti, S., & Salmi, L.-R. (2017). Strategies and governance to reduce health inequalities: evidences from a cross-European survey. Global Health Research Policy, 2(18). doi:10.1186/s41256-017-0038-7

Cochran, S. D., & Barnes, N. W. (2017). Race, Race-Based Discrimination, and Health Outcomes Among African Americans. Annual review of psychology, 58, 201–225. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190212

Dreyer, G., Brettle, A., & Roderick, P. J. (2020). Ethnic minority disparities in progression and mortality of pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease: a systematic scoping review. BMC Nephrol, 21(217), 1-13. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12882-020-01852-3

Jones, C. (2016). The Moral Problem of Health Disparities. American Journal of Public Health, 47-52. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.171181