Health of the African American Population Essay

Varying trends in the income, economic flow, and job opportunities have influenced the living standards of the African American in the main cities of the United States. The population of the blacks in the cities has been on a reducing trend due to a gap in the growth of income among the citizens. There is a huge disparity in the wealth of the black Americans and the white citizens. The economy has been varying over the decades with some citizens experiencing an upward trend; the African Americans have faced low rates of growth compared to the whites.

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There are also disparities in the intergenerational development. An intergenerational trend is the ratio of a child's economic growth to the parents' wealth. Education determines the economic advancement of a family's generation. Education enables an individual to advance in cognitive capacity and hence progress in the financial status. For instance, a survey indicates that the number of poor residents in Washington DC increased by 18000 residents. In the survey, the African Americans lead in the poverty index. The average income for whites was approximately $120000 while the income for the African American households was $41000 (Oliver, & Shapiro, 2013). Moreover, the net worth of the whites was $284000 while the African Americans were worth 3500 on average. The poverty in the African American population is also due to a high number of single mothered families.

Employment rates differ across the American population depending on racial origin. The unemployment percentages for the African American under all categories; gender, education, and age is rising than those of the white population. Research shows that during a recession the number of blacks who lost jobs rose while the population ratio for the whites who got employment opportunities rose over the same period (Scott, & Wilson, 2011). During the recession, the population of blacks with no jobs increased by 6.4 percent while the ratio of the unemployed whites increased by 4%. Records from a survey indicate that the African American has a higher ratio of unemployment with an average 7% as by the year 2016. This rate of unemployment is approximately double the rate of the whites. For instance, the rate of unemployment for the blacks in D.C was 13 % of the in 2016 while the rate for the whites was less than 2% (Wulczyn, Gibbons, Snowden, & Lery, 2013). The statistic simply arete of unemployment for the African American stood at over six times that of the whites. This disparity in the rate of joblessness involves all citizens in different categories of education and skills.

The African Americans face challenges in their effort to access to employment due to high competition in the job markets. There exist big differences in the educational and skills qualifications between the African Americans and the whites. For example, over 70 percent of the whites attain the university degree level compared to 23% of the African Americans for the population in the age of 20s ( Ladson-Billings, & Tate, 2016). The gap in the education levels and skills, in turn, translates into the discrepancies in the employment sector. The trend is expected to continue as the population of the African American children between the age brackets of 16-24 years who are not in schools is higher.

Apart from social factors such as employment, education and economic status, African Americans also face several health issues. Among the major health problem are the cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Different statistics illustrate how the different heart- related diseases affect mortality and lifestyle of the black population. According to a survey in 2011, CVD led to over 90000 deaths of African American people (Sheet, 2013). For instance, a survey on Coronary Heart Diseases revealed varying statistics. CHD, for example, contributed to the deaths of over 38000 African Americans. Studies also indicate that blacks risk getting stroke complications that are nearly double that if the whites. The stroke cases among the blacks are largely due to traditional factors that associate with the condition. The dominance of physical inactivity which stands at almost 28% is a factor that contributes to the heart complications. Most of the black young men and ladies spend their time on computers and watching television programs (Boulos, Vikre, Oppenheimer, Chang, & Kanarek, 2012). It is devastating that children over the age of 2 are obese due to the family history of other factors.

According to the studies in the preceding pages, disparities in education reflect on poverty levels and the employment opportunities. The income of the employed individuals later determines the quality of health services that a family can access. The population increases the rate where the rate increase rate in earnings is 8% while the rate for the whites is 3 percent. Low income implies less insurance cover by the African Americans which makes it difficult to access better health care and facilities. Research suggests that children from poor backgrounds may suffer from poor health status. The unemployed population has high chances to suffer from poor health complications such as high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disorders. Moreover, diseases such as cancer may highly prevail among the African Americans than the whites. The ratio of blacks with high cholesterol levels is lower than cases involving the whites (Myers, McAuley, Lavie, Despres, Arena, & Kokkinos, 2015). A survey also reveals that the number of African American women with prenatal care is more than the number of the white mothers. In the prevalence of HIV/AIDs in the year1996, cities, for example, Baltimore recorded 175 new HIV cases compared to the whites (Sharpe, Voute, Rose, Cleveland, Dean, & Fenton, 2012).

Several intervention methods are essential to combat the disparities in the health issues between the African Americans and the white Americans. Due to the poor social situations and the need for improved health conditions to the African American communities, researchers and public health practitioners endeavour to improve and reduce the gap in the health sector.

To formulate an intervention strategy, one needs to understand the determinants of quality health services to a community. Social factors that influence the quality and accessibility of health services include education standards, social support, culture, social norms and attitudes such as racism (Braveman, & Gottlieb, 2014). Physical factors may also determine the health of the African American communities. The natural environment needs to be conducive and free from disease-causing vectors. Housing and the built environment also influences the health conditions of the blacks. Establishing strategies to improve and monitor the social and physical factors that shape the health of the African Americans can improve thereby, tackling the health disparity. However, the main determinants of health care education, health, and healthcare, social issues, economy, and the environment.

Several societal groups such as the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) launched a program to sensitize communities on appropriate intervention strategies. Societal determinants of health involve the circumstances in the social, physical, and economic surrounding in which individuals are born, work and mature to old ages (Williams, & Purdie-Vaughns, 2016). The intervention strategies just like the way disparities occur across the gender, culture and the power should include all the factors.

The social environment is as a reflection of culture, language, political and religious beliefs. Social environment may additionally, include social attitudes such as discrimination or stigmatization as well as social economic well-being such as poverty. Economic policies are essential in shaping the societal environment. Great evaluation and monitoring should be paid to physical and societal issues that hinder quality health to the African Americans. For instance, tobacco use, poor diet and inadequate physical activity that cause major diseases such as heart attacks, diabetes and cancer should be monitored. There is need to enact an integrated policy which leads to investment in tackling these health determinants. Integration is essential as several factors such as agriculture, housing and education belong to different sectors. There is need to implement policies to promote healthy meals and physical activities to combat obesity prevalence among the African American population.

There is the need for an approach that involves several sectors and promotes an understanding of the relationships that exist in biological conduct, behavior, physical and environmental issues. The community needs to understand the personal and communal responsibility in preventing chronic diseases among the African American population.

Although public campaigns are essential in promoting health, individuals' personal behavior change is a better strategy to employ reducing health disparity. The progress in tackling tobacco addiction may be achieved by targeting individuals and also the social environment. To address obesity menace among the African American population, the integration of the society with the individuals' counseling is appropriate. Prohibition of advertisements of inexpensive high energy fatty foods which increase the possibility of high-calorie foods consumption with poor nutrition content can promote the health status of the community (Corral, Landrine, Hao, Zhao, Mellerson, & Cooper, 2012)... The African American community promotes the health of population since they have few personal facilities for physical activities.

Fast food restaurants dominate over the number of grocery chains in the residential estates of the African American population. In the white communities, there are more farm markets, and whole food stores compared to the African American environment. There are also more alcoholic beverages stores in the estates that the blacks occupy than in the white-dominated estates. There is, therefore, the need to improve the number of fresh food stores in the African American communities and as such, improve the future health standards of the people.

Intervention is necessary to reduce the gap in health issues among the African Americans and between the blacks and the whites. Several intervention measures can be employed to promote the health standards in the African American community. These strategies may involve the use of programs to reduce discrepancies hence promote the chances for quality health. The public health sectors may also engage other organizations such as the faith-based groups, education, and business communities to promote an appropriate environment for healthy living. The African American society may link with medical professionals and centers to promote medical check-ups. Lastly, the medical personnel need to learn and tolerate cultural differences on ways in which communities relate with the healthcare system.

The government has an important role in promoting healthcare of the African Americans to reduce the health discrepancies. The state departments need to collect, monitor and evaluate factors that may hinder efficient health standards. These factors may include poverty and education levels. The government should also promote the cooperation between researchers and the African American community leaders to tackle diseases that are at a higher rate than in other communities. Additionally, the state should establish ways to address cardiovascular diseases which are popular among the African Americans than the white communities. The African American communities have several established organizations and associations...