Essay Example on Racial Disparities in US Healthcare: Unfair Inequality

Introduction

Many types of researches have been conducted in the United States regarding racial disparities in the healthcare system. The number of deaths is more to the African- Americans than it is the case to the whites. The differences exist as a result of social and economic, which are common among African Americans. This is evident in the fact that African Americans are less likely to see a doctor because they cannot pay for the service. This is not fair as all American citizens should have the same and equal chances in the healthcare lifestyle. Today the disparities are less than the earlier days as there has been a slight reduction over time. Today, the number of African Americans exposed to health disparities is less than the way they used to be. The African Americans who were not insured received poor healthcare services compared to the people who sort services from the private facilities. All investors in the healthcare sector have the responsibility to ensure that all Americans get quality health care services. In this regard, the focus shall be on the health disparities which exist in African Americans.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Many African Americans are at risk of suffering from chronic diseases because they cannot see a doctor. This may be a result of the inadequate funds which keep them off from accessing the health services. An obvious example is a fact that many Americans are not able to see a doctor for health services (Rodríguez-Vilá, Nuti & Krumholz, 2017). This clearly shows that all American citizens are never treated equally concerning healthcare services. In this case, African Americans are treated as second class citizens when compared to Whites. The disparities result from many aspects, such as poverty levels within the group, among other factors. In this regard, the high poverty levels within African Americans have resulted in the disparities in seeking healthcare services.

Health professionals have to address the issue through the use of best approaches to address the health challenge. This can be through the use of programs that reduce the disparity between the two groups of people. They can work with other organizations to ensure that all people have equal chances to access healthcare services. This will help to create equality among all the citizens of the vast country. All the health professionals need to be trained about the different cultures possessed by various people and how best they can help them.

Traditional beliefs and values are beneficial and not beneficial to African American culture.

Some traditional beliefs and values are that are unbeneficial to African American cultural practices include female circumcision practice. Female genital mutilation practice is one of the most harmful practices and a challenge in the health sector. Although some practitioners claim that the method acts as sex control, researchers from different analysts have shown that it leads to the psychological torture of the victim. The clitoris is considered a site for sex urge. According to the traditional beliefs regarding the practice, its removal leads to controlled sexual urge and behavior that will promote the health sector by avoiding the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. Nonetheless, some traditional beliefs concerning female genital mutilation suggest that the practice is medically necessary and beneficial. Conversely, some of these practices may be a threat to practitioners' health since a cut clitoris is more rampant to be affected by worms.

African foods are beneficial when it comes to the maintenance of health. Practices, such as concepts of health and wellness, have vied as harmony and peace in nature. This practice may be unbeneficial to the health status of clients since most people tend to assume that illness maybe as a result of punishment from God of witchcraft. The culture and the beliefs of the people may tend to invert the clients' minds to think that the victim requires family attention rather than health attention.

Moreover, the childbearing process in the traditional setup is said to be obsolete and less agreeable than the American structure. For example, the spanking of a child after bath to confirm if he or she has mental of any other problem is discouraged in the American set up. Research by the American Academy of Pediatrics quoted that harsh ways that may be termed as physical punishments should not be used in newborns. However, when considering how the Africans respond to death and dying events, three aspects are considered. They include social class, spirituality, and personal lifestyle (Guinart, Kane & Correll, 2019). Generally speaking, many African Americans consider and view death as a holy event. Therefore, most of them tend to avoid body cremation and the sharing of body parts as the desecration of the body. As a result, a conclusion has concerning this belief and tradition has been drawn. The conclusion implies that the African belies concerning the death and dying of clients may disadvantage the growth in the health care sector since body cremation and body sharing are critical in different life situations. Besides, it is so beneficial and promising in the general healthcare sector.

Studies in the health disparities show that most African Americans suffer from the problem of lack due to the environments in which they reside. For example, the traditional belief in the religious sector provides strong affiliations that support good health. Research has shown that good religious practice is likely to generate good health conditions among the people practicing the religion. However, the interaction of religious beliefs among American Africans and other social groups has led to the development of how people think and act in different situations. People are adapting some other better ways of living from different people and hence becoming less traditional. Besides, the poor and the weak are more likely to depend on the traditional beliefs since the affluent among all social groups have led to the development and adaptation of better ways to achieving excellent health care services.

Health care disparities in African-American

Despite the existence of coverage gains in the health sector, health care challenges continue to exist and affect African Americans at large. Racial variation in the health sector has made African Americans face many challenges in the urge to acquire fare and more convenient services. For instance, recent studies have shown that the number of blacks affected by the ongoing worldwide covid19 epidemic in America is very high. Unfortunately, more other people are prone to be affected more. Also, more blacks than whites are likely to lose their lives during childbirth. The ability to attain quality services in the American state is defined by how different people are offered the health services and the health outcomes that they expect. According to the research, blacks have continued to get poor health services even after the development of treatment policies by specific organizations. African Americans still get worse services compared to other races.

All American should be entitled to good health and offers equal opportunities to live healthy lives. Over the years, the people of color have not received the high-quality health care services they deserve compared to the later. Also, more explanation about the health care disparities among African Americans can be ventured more by getting the information from people who choose to be comfortable in getting the most effective and more life conserving treatments. Health care biases can happen in different sectors, either consciously or unconsciously. According to Dayna Bowen Matthew's book, Just Medicine, some people reported negative attitudes they get from the public health services that affect them. Health disparities among African Americans have gone deep over the years.

Moreover, analysts suggest that being an African American in a racial state can be bad for health living (Travers, Cohen, Dick & Stone, 2017). A U.S. study has shown that African Americans suffer the most adverse diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases that the other races. Also, the number of child deaths among blacks is high as compared to white children.

The American health care system consists of inequality measures that have been reported to affect people mainly. The inequalities in the health sector have led to gaps in the health services attained by specific populations. Unfortunately, African Americans are prone to the problems of health care challenges at large as compared to the latter. Health insurance cover is expensive, and since many people cannot afford it, the number of uninsured African Americans has highly increased. Furthermore, the Commonwealth has estimated over 87 million underinsured people, 18 percent of them being African-American.

Leininger’s cultural care diversity theory

With the rampant growth in the innovation area, and the increased travel level, the need to embrace cultural diversity to all healthcare providers is essential. Leininger's culture care theory consists of three aspects: nursing, judgments, and interventions that lead to convenient services that all people enjoy in the health care service. The theory explains the need to be culturally sensitive and have a congruent manner in the way of maintenance, negotiation, and restructuring (Gollust et al. 2019). Cultural preservation consists of essential guidelines and measures that help different clients in the health sector to respect and preserve cultural values while providing health services. Cultural care services provide education on how to improve the health care services and make all clients benefit equally irrespective of their cultures. Nonetheless, people from different cultures can interact fully with other cultures leading to successful and promising negotiations on the measures and ways that might lead to optimum health care services.

Although most health providers tend to be less sensitive to handle cultural differences in many people, cultural education is critical for all health care providers, especially nurses. People who provide health care usually meet different people from different originalities. Adverse knowledge on how to handle different cultures is required for a service to be appreciated more by different potentials. Leininger's theory explains the need to embrace cultural measures in the nursing sector. The objective of the theory is to provide ultimate terms that enable the provision of services that can be appreciated and enjoyed fully and equally among all people regardless of their cultural beliefs and origins.

Conclusion

In conclusion, improving cultural competence and taking measures to control health disparities should be a priority in every population. Health disparities are a significant problem in the U.S. health care systems. Nevertheless, some culturally sensitive beliefs affect general healthcare practices. The cultural beliefs may be beneficial or unbeneficial to the African Americans. Some African cultural habits that affect general health care practice have been highlighted in this essay. Some traditional beliefs, such as the circumcision process and the childbearing process in the African American culture. Health disparities for the American African should be discussed and ways to curb inequality services providence in the health care sector set.

Reference

Burgess, D. J., Bokhour, B. G., Cunningham, B. A., Do, T., Gordon, H. S., Jones, D. M., ... & Gollust, S. E. (2019). Healthcare providers’ responses to narrative communication about racial healthcare disparities. Health communication, 34(2), 149-161.

Guinart, D., Kane, J. M., & Correll, C. U. (2019). Is Transcultural psychiatry possible?