The occurrences and incidences of reported health disorders, diseases, and other complications that are health-related in a particular community are referred to as gender and racial-based health disparities in the United States. Health-supporting factors including appropriate medication, health monitoring services like checkups and screenings, and the ability of a particular group to handle the situation are frequently reflected in the health disparities. In addition to environmental causes, there are other sociocultural elements that have an impact on the prevalence and occurrence of specific health inequalities among the population. Gender and race disparities are some of the sociological factors that affect the occurrences of certain health disparities and diseases in a particular population under study. Researchers have developed divergent opinions as to what they feel affects the occurrence and prevalence of different health conditions across the racial, social and environmental domains. Gender, Race and sociological factors in the United States affect the health disparities in different populations.
Barr, D. A. (2014). Health disparities in the United States: Social class, race, ethnicity, and health. JHU Press.
Bar (2014) contends that the United States is ranked among the countries with the most efficient health care systems in the world. However, he contends that there continues to be disparities and differences in the health care provision and patients access basing on the socio-economic, racial and factors touching to ethnicity. Bar does a variety of research that cuts across the disparity between infant mortality rates, the prevalence of high blood pressure and the susceptibility of contracting breast cancer between the Whites, African Americans and the Africans from the African continent. In one of his researches on the prevalence of the rates of high blood pressure between the male and female African Americans he found that, the male African Americans rate of high blood pressure was over 40% while that of the African American women was higher by a slight increase in percentage. However, he found that of the Africans from sub-Saharan Africa to be lower in comparison to that of the African Americans.
In his analysis he came to the conclusion that the genetic composition of the races played a vital role in determining the prevalence rate of acquiring diabetes. Barr (2014) equally states that the socio-economic factor is some of the main driving forces that increase the prevalence of acquiring high blood pressure and other health disparities. The result also showed that the African Americans and the whites that lived within the same social-economic status had the same rates of acquiring high blood pressure and lifestyle diseases like diabetes.
Gomez, L. E. (2013). Mapping Race: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research. Rutgers University Press.
In Mapping Race: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research Laura Gomez (2013) agrees that race plays a key role in the health disparities that is in the United States. Through a research that she conducted on the prevalence of diabetes among the White Americans, Mexican Americans and the African Americans, Gomez found that the white Americans had the lowest prevalence while the African Americans had the highest prevalence. In her explanation Gomes found that from the most of the white population under the research had better access to health facilities and lived a better lifestyle as compared to the African Americans.
Gomez stresses that it is biologically incorrect to research on the health disparities or prevalence of some diseases basing on the racial factors. She equally contends that the racial alignment in America serves a political function and hence researchers on the reasons for health disparities should desist from making conclusions and generalizations that are based on race as the central focal point. Adjusting the issue of racial alignment is inevitable so as to neutralize the essential social factors that might lead to biasness. The thinking behind racial factors is in line with the creation of social stratification which automatically leads to disparities that cannot produce scientifically viable outcomes.
Ikemoto, L. (2006). In the Shadow of Race: Women of Color in Health Disparities Policy. The University of California.
According to Ikemoto (2006), the concept of the racial disparities is still at the evolving stages. The federal government and the other medical and research bodies are making blank statements and lopsided researches. The concept of racism and racial groupings is at the core of the health disparities in the U.S. Ikemoto, however contends that there is the overemphasis in the racial factors affecting health disparities that is casts a shadow on other equal important contributors in the research in health disparities in the United States. In his argument, Ikemoto contends that the federal government set various goals that were geared towards addressing the disparities in health but it will not attain its goal if it does not apply a multi-dimensional approach in addressing the issue.
Through the structural theory, Ikemoto (2006) contends that structuralism can be a useful tool in beating the instances of discrimination in the various practice institutions in the U.S. The structuralism theory further contends that there are several barriers that affect the consideration of the women of color in the federal health policies and researches. The cultural and language barrier as well as the cost of treatment pose a challenge to the inclusion of the women of color in the research and study of the health disparities in the U.S. Through the provision of cross-cultural languages, expanding the health insurance and strengthening affirmative action will lead to better health care provision for the minority women even though it might not eliminate the case of health care disparities in the American institutions.
Kevin Fiscella, MD, MPH, and David R. Williams, PhD, MPH. Health Disparities Based on Socioeconomic Inequities: Implications for Urban Health Care
The difference in the socio-economic status of the diverse races in the U.S poses a challenge to the general population which in turn results to the increase in the health disparities. Socio-economic factors range from the levels of education, income rates and occupation among other factors. Factors such as mortality rates, morbidity and the general health status affect catalyze the disparity that is rampant in the health care provision by the American care givers. Through increasing community health care providers as well as to create some structural advantages that are designed to put the systems under check, more people will have access to better health care facilities and thereby reduce the gap in healthcare provision based on the socio-economic factors. The connection between the socio-economic status directly links to the disparities in the health car provision. Through analyzing the human, material and socio-capital factors, it is possible to fully understand and address the socio-economic needs of the underprivileged populations so as to improve the service provision of the basic health fundamentals.
National Academy of Sciences. (2017). The State of Health Disparities in the United States. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425844/
In an attempt to identify the causal factors of the health disparities in the U.S as well as address them through practical measures, a committee was formulated. The committee analyzed the issue of the health disparities in the U.S through focusing on gender, racial factors, disability status, sexual orientations and ethnicity among other things. The National Academy of Sciences (2017) through the use of committees and already researched material came up with various findings and conclusions on the issue of health disparities in the United States. Some of the disparities that affect the effective care giving in the U.S include the gender disparities, racial and ethnic disparities, LGBT health disparities and gender disparities.
Race and ethnic disparities fall under the social construct factors that affect the health disparities in the United States. Race and ethnic factors are important factors when addressing the health issues as they contribute immensely to the access and distribution of resources in the U.S. Through the historical context minority races were subjected to poor health resources and facilities and thus increasing the disease prevalence rates in those areas. A recent research by the U.S Center for Disease Control and prevention found that race, ethnicity and gender are some of the leading causes of deaths from cancer and heart diseases in America. Although most of the driving factors for the widening gap in health disparities are biological there are also some non-biological factors like victimization, mental disorders and substance abuse that affect the overall outcomes in the health section (National Academy of Sciences 2017). A recent research found that the life expectancy of white women is shorter as compared to the white men. The driving factors behind it include, smoking related diseases, poisoning and obesity.
The institute of medicine further points out that the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) are often secluded from various social structural medical endorsements. There is also a wave of stereotype towards the LGBT which sidelines them from community health care services and thereby making them more vulnerable to the health disparity category. The LGBT primarily suffer from invisibility and social segregation from the other heterosexual people and thus making them vulnerable and exposed to prevalence of various diseases (National Academy for Sciences 2017).
Sternthal, M. & Williams, D. R. (2010). Understanding Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health: Sociological Contributions. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3468327/
Sternthal & William (2010) agree that, sociologists have managed to address 4 main issues that affect the disparity in health care provision. The first step that the sociologists took was to problematize the issue of race and its effects in health care provision. The have also pointed out the essentially of social structures in addressing the issue of race in disease and prevalence. The third caption of the sociologists is how migratory racial factors have affected the concept of health disparities. The final research by the sociologists involves the overall outlook on how racial factors affect the health disparities among the races in the Unites States.
In Sternthal & Williams view (2010), the current health policies are differentiated from the traditional health approaches and hence it calls for the outsourcing and collaboration from different sectors to pool resources to stabilize the issue of healthcare disparities. Through the inclusivity of the concept of equal opportunity and dignity among the minority communities, it is possible to access the needed political support to address and support the issue of health disparity in the U.S.
Steven Epstein (2011). Bodily Differences and Collective Identities: The Politics of Gender and Race in Biomedical Research in the United States
Epstein does not focus on gender, racial and ethnic minorities in his study and analysis of the biomedical and drug development tests. Epstein instead tackles the debate on how race, gender, ethnic categories should be incorporated in the medical practice and future research as well as their biological relevance to understanding health disparities in the U.S. Epstein (2011) further contends that all forms of clinical research are aligned to a particular society and a group of people in order to include both the human, social and environmental factors at play at addressing the biomedical research.
Epstein (2011) affirms that all the races white and other minorities have a similarity in their biological composition. The biomedical studies conducted in such categories of people only changes when there are new social and political constructs that alter the environmental circumstances of this population. According to Epstein, it is the dual nature in all the categories under research and study that poses a challenge to the biomedical research. He equally contends that the researchers conducting medical researches concerning the relations of various prevalence factors to a socially diverse population ought to factor in the duality of the factors under research. Although most researchers agree that there is a biological similarity for various races, they also agree that cultural, social and economic factors that include access to good medication and consumption of medicine contribute to the disparities in the biomedical research.
References
Barr, D. A. (2014). Health disparities in the United States: Social class, race, ethnicity, and health. JHU Press.
Gomez, L. E. (2013). Mapping Race: Critical Approaches to Health Disparities Research. Rutgers University Press.
Ikemoto, L. (2006). In the Shadow of Race: Women of Color in Health Disparities Policy. The University of California.
Kevin Fiscella, MD, MPH, and David R. Williams, PhD, MPH . Health Disparities Based on Socioeconomic Inequities: Implications for Urban Health Care
National Academy of Sciences. (2017). The State of Health Disparities in the United States. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425844/
Sternthal, M. & Williams, D. R. (2010). Understanding Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health: Sociological Contributions. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3468327/
Steven Epstein (2011). Bodily Differences and Collective Identities: The Politics of Gender and Race in Biomedical Research in the United States
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