Essay Sample on Health Promotion in Minority Populations

In American society, African American minority groups have been known to suffer from different diseases as compared to whites. African Americans are known to suffer mainly from sexually transmitted illnesses, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and hypertension. The majority of American societies are white and are known to experience different health problems. Some of the health problems encountered by the whites are atrial fibrillation, and sickle cell anemia. There are various reasons why African Americans suffer from many diseases as compared to whites who are the majority in America.

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African Americans are more likely to suffer from deadly diseases such as High blood pressure, cancer, stroke, and asthma. African Americans are more likely to be exposed to smoking cigarettes, and tobacco at a tender age as compared to other minority groups (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). Thus, cigarettes and tobacco increase their chances of experiencing lung cancer. In a race and ethnicity perspective, African Americans are known to experience poor quality healthcare as compared to whites.

Some of the health disparities associated with African Americans is poor access to care, rising preference of chronic diseases, and racial and ethnic background. In some instances, African American communities are known to experience frequent deaths, and lack of economic opportunities (Noonan, Velasco-Mondragon & Wagner, 2016). Thus, the disparities are known to transform into high healthcare costs and inequality. Some of the nutrition challenges experienced by the African American communities include barbecued ribs, fried chicken, sugary drinks, cheese, and sweets among others. These foods have been considered major contributors to diseases like stroke, cancer, and high blood pressure.

The major barrier to health is cost. A majority of the African American community cannot afford paying for frequent healthcare checkups. Moreover, the African American community lacks enough education regarding the importance of insurance covers like Medicare, and Medicaid (Hill, 2016). In terms of employment, African Americans are known to be low-income earners. They cannot afford to pay for the cost of medication. African American culture also affects how they perceive education regarding various preventative solutions towards reducing the rate of experiencing deadly diseases.

Health promotion activities practiced by the African American community include increasing physical activities, cancer screening, and increase fruit and vegetable intake. In more instances, African Americans utilize education as a major contributor to educating the public on the importance of physical activities (Noonan, Velasco-Mondragon & Wagner, 2016). In addition, African Americans participate in health promotion activities to show the importance of fruits and vegetables to better health. In the last decade, African Americans have been considered to have the highest death rates when it comes to cancer. The minority group uses cancer screening to portray the importance of frequent checkups, especially for younger individuals. Cancer screening is known to be helpful when it comes to the detection of various forms of cancer.

The educational approach would be more effective in the case of health promotion for the African American community. The African American community has been known to be school dropouts while others always experience suspension from schools. Education is the key to ensuring that African Americans become familiar with different preventative measures required to reduce the risk of getting deadly diseases (Brand, 2017). The education approach allows the minority races in America to familiarize themselves with the most appropriate skills and nutrition for healthy living.

Cultural beliefs play an important role when it comes to the creation of a care plan. Low socioeconomic status is one of the cultural beliefs, which is crucial when creating a care plan. A majority of African American citizens are known to be in low to middle-income earners. Creating a care plan, which requires it to be easily affordable (Hill, 2016). Another cultural belief that should be considered is the education aspect. Before creating a care plan, it is advisable for the minority who are African Americans to be familiar with health plans.

Cultural epoch theory focuses on the historical development of the human race. In our case, African Americans continue to experience low-income salaries, which can be associated with their background back in the 18th to 20th century (Brand, 2017). From the times of the slave trade, African Americans have been glued to only feeding on foods that have been considered major contributors to poor health.

In conclusion, African American continues to suffer from deadly diseases as compared to the other races within the United States of America. As compared to white Americans, African Americans are known to have difficulty when it comes to healthy nutrition plans. Lack of proper education is a contributing factor to a lack of health awareness. To curb and reduce the rate of African Americans suffering from diseases, health promotion activities should be created for educational purposes. During the creation of a care plan, the cultural beliefs of the African American community must be adhered to for it to be effective. The care plan would, however, benefit the African American community more as compared to other ethnic groups.

References

Brand, D. (2017). The African American Church: A Change Agent for Health. Vol. 28 Issue 4, p109-113. 5p.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017). African American Health: Creating equal opportunities for health. https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html

Hill, S. 2016. Inequality and African-American health: How racial disparities create sickness. DOI: 10.2307/j.ctt1t890m1

Noonan, A., Velasco-Mondragon, H., & Wagner, F. (2016). Improving the health of African Americans in the USA: an overdue opportunity for social justice. https://doi: 10.1186/s40985-016-0025-4