Health Promotion in Minority Population The Selected Ethnic Minority Group, Its Health Status, and How Race and Ethnicity Influence Health

For this paper, the selected ethnic minority group is African Americans. Currently, African Americans make up about 13.4% of the population of the United States. The majority of them live in rural areas. Although African Americans were victims of historical injustices, they have been able to accomplish significant advancements in recent years. For instance, at least 90% of Black Americans aged 25 to 29 graduated from high school, indicating a substantial rise in educational achievement (Taylor, 2019). However, they remain far behind in building wealth compared to their white counterparts. The poorest ethnic group in the USA is African Americans. For the previous 50 years, they have experienced the lowest median household income in the USA. Regarding their current health status, the life expectancy of African Americans is 77.0 years, while the national average is 78.61 years (Andrasfay & Goldman, 2021). The death rate for African Americans is higher than whites for HIV/AIDS, diabetes, pneumonia, asthma, cancer, stroke, and heart diseases.

Additionally, the prevalence of infectious and chronic diseases among African Americans is four to ten times higher than the average for the US population. For example, the prevalence of HIV infection in this population is 13 times greater than the national average. According to the available data, 57.6% of African American women and 37.9% of African American men who are 20 years or older are obese, compared to the 35.1% national average (Maness et al., 2021). Their race plays a significant role in their health status. African Americans live in the most segregated housing, associated with a high cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevalence. The fact that white Americans are less segregated from Hispanic or Asian Americans than from black Americans can explain the poor health status of African Americans. Also, African Americans are still victims of racial discrimination today, which negatively affects their physical and mental health. Racism-related stress can have material impacts that linger for a very long time. Racial discrimination is also linked with involvement in recreational drug use. These drugs end up negatively affecting the health of African Americans.

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Health Disparities

There are several health disparities among African Americans. The number of African Americans with health care coverage is still lower than the overall US population. While only nine per cent of the US population is uninsured, 12 per cent of African Americans lack health coverage. Even though this gap has narrowed in recent years, Black Americans are still more susceptible to chronic diseases than other races. For instance, compared to Hispanic adults (36%), non-Hispanic Asian adults (39%), or non-Hispanic White adults, Black Americans have more excellent rates of hypertension. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). The inequalities in health outcomes among African Americans are also influenced by cancer. African Americans have the lowest overall survival rates and the most significant mortality rates for the majority of cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. However, African American men and women have had a faster decline in the overall cancer death rate since 1990 than White people (Deshaies, 2022). Deshaies (2022) claims that compared to white patients, black patients’ mortality rates for colorectal, prostate, and lung cancer have decreased more swiftly. Another area of healthcare where disparities occur is renal disease. The National Renal Foundation estimates that African Americans could have renal failure up to three times more frequently than Caucasians. Up to one-third of all Americans who require dialysis due to renal failure are black people. This is even though they comprise only 13.4% of the population (Deshaies, 2022).

Barriers To Health

There are several barriers to health among African Americans. First, some of the cultural beliefs of African Americans prevent them from seeking medical attention. For instance, some African Americans believe home remedies are just as effective as conventional medicines. Also, the level of distrust in the healthcare system among African Americans is high when compared to the rest of the US population (Nguyen et al., 2022). The suspicion arises from the fact that the healthcare system has racially discriminated against them for an extended period. Due to their distrust of the healthcare system, African Americans fail to comply with prescribed medications and lifestyle practices. In addition, a common issue in poor African American communities is access to who