Health Status of Black Americans

Health Promotion in Minority Populations
Student Name
Course Code and Name
Institutional Affiliation
Instructor’s Name
Due Date
Health Promotion in Minority Populations
Introduction
The ethnic minority group chosen for this essay is the Black/African-American group. Black Americans represent about 14% (46.8 million) of the United States population, a sharp increase from 36.2 million in 2000 (Tamir et al., 2021). This population represents single-race non-Latino black people, multiracial non-Latino black people, and black Latino people. This essay will describe the health status of the Black-American population, and how race and ethnicity influence their health. Moreover, the health disparities that exist within the group will be determined in addition to the nutritional challenges they face. Another topic to be discussed is the barriers to health resulting from socioeconomics, education, and socio-political factors. Lastly, the health promotion activities often practiced within the group, an approach that is effective in terms of a care plan, and the cultural beliefs that are to be considered when creating a care plan will be discussed.
Black-American Health Status and Influences
According to the CDC (2017), Black Americans have experienced a sharp decline of 25% in mortality rate, especially among the elderly. However, further analysis shows that there remain disparities since younger Black-American generations are developing illnesses mostly attributed to elderly White Americans (CDC, 2017). Prather et al. (2018) state that Black-American women experience a high prevalence of child mortality, sexually transmitted diseases, and maternal mortality. The stark reason for these health outcomes is discriminatory health practices attributed to racist behavior that influences the quality of health care and access to timely medical services (Prather et al., 2018). Therefore, there are extremely negative health outcomes for the Black-American ethnic minority group that causes death from preventable conditions.
Tirupathi et al. (2020) assert that race and ethnicity influence health disparities in the US by determining COVID-19 incidence rates among the ethnic populations in the country. According to Tirupathi et al. (2020), the prevalence rates of COVID-19 were inexplicably higher among Black Americans in most of the states, while the death rates were also unduly higher among the population. Orlovic et al. (2018) also find that Black-American groups receive despairingly lower medical services and medical attention during end-of-life care than White Americans, resulting in reduced quality of life. These studies show that race and ethnicity play a role in the health outcomes of ethnic groups within the United States. Furthermore, Richards Adams et al. (2019) state that Black Americans showcase lower consumption rates of dietary fiber, whole grains, fruits, and vitamins due to health disparities, lack of access to nutritional information, mistrust of medical advice, and low socioeconomic status.
Barriers to Health among Black-Americans
Connell et al. (2020) concludes poverty and healthcare practitioner shortages in areas populated with Black Americans as the primary barriers to positive health outcomes. ...