Health Promotion in Minority Populations

Running head: Health Promotion in Minority Populations
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Health Promotion in Minority Populations
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Health Promotion in Minority Populations
Health Promotion in Minority Populations
Selected ethnic minority
The Black African American population residing in America has been chosen for writing
the paper. About 14.5% of the Africa American people suffers from poor health status owing to
the high prevalence of cancer, obesity, hypertension, diabetes and sexually transmitted diseases
in comparison of the white American counterparts (CDC., 2017).
The problem of poor housing infrastructure and inadequate nutrition among the African
American was present since 20th century and the unfortunately the problem is still visible in the
American community (CDC., 2017). Discrimination, unequal access to health care, race and
ethnicity and the genetic factors as influenced the occurrence of the diseases.
Health disparity present in this group
Disparities among this group is common in terms of health, employment, health literacy,
insurance coverage and access to health care services. 45% of the African American adults have
been found to be obese, again the percentage of childhood obesity is also quire high among this
ethnic minority group (CDC., 2017). 75% of the people suffers from chronic diseases like
diabetes. The condition or the percentage is similar for the other chronic conditions like heart
diseases, which has been found to be higher by 60 % than their white counterparts (CDC., 2017).
Another problem among the African American is the prevalence of mental health problems more
than the white people. They have the probability of developing psychological distress at an early

Health Promotion in Minority Populations
stage. The prevalence of the sexually transmitted disease is also high among this group (Carten
& Fennoy, 2018). Unfortunately, the infant mortality rate was also found to be about 2.3 %
higher than the other national population. As per CDC, the health inequalities faced by the
African American can impact on the rates of the infant mortality, the life expectancy and the
other attributes of the risk condition, the behavioral patterns and the risk conditions. Monk
(2015),h ave identified that underlying reasons for this disparities caused in terms of health and
wellbeing. Genetic predisposition, different cultural beliefs, low health literacy. Absence of the
economic resources and delay in the treatment, lack of proper health insurances might be some
of the crucial factors leading to health literacy (CDC, 2017)..
The nutritional status of Black African American are poor, which is indicated by the high
prevalence of child hood obesity (Kolahdooz et al., 2015). Inappropriate dietary consumption
such as the consumption of fast food, food of high calorific values, minute-made food has
increased the chance of occurrence of obesity. The consumption of the sweetened drinks have
been found. The percentage of consumption of the fresh food are less than the National dietary
guidelines (Kolahdooz et al., 2015).
Barriers
Social determinants of health are the factors on which the health status of an individual or
a community or a population depends on. According to Krieger, (2014), poor dietary condition
has been found to be associated to traditional and cultural beliefs, the rate of the health literacy
and the associated socio-political factors. Socio-economic factors has always been linked to
dietary conditions, as they cannot afford nutritious food and they will also not be able to access