Understanding and Navigating Discrimination in America by Jamie Maniloff

Author:Jamie Maniloff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Omnigraphics

Section 9.2 • Health Disparities Experienced by Racial/Ethnic Minorities

This section contains text excerpted from the following sources: Text in this section begins with excerpts from “Disparities,” HealthyPeople.gov, October 10, 2020; Text beginning with the heading “Disparities In Disease Burden Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities” is excerpted from “STDs in Racial and Ethnic Minorities,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), July 24, 2018; Text under the heading “Tuberculosis (TB),” is excerpted from “Health Disparities in HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB,” Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), September 14, 2020; Text under the heading “Cancer” is excerpted from “Cancer Disparities,” National Cancer Institute (NCI), November 17, 2020.

Although the term “disparities” is often interpreted to mean racial or ethnic disparities, many disparity dimensions exist in the United States, particularly in health. If a health outcome is seen to a greater or lesser extent between populations, there is disparity. Race or ethnicity, sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, and geographic location all contribute to an individual’s ability to achieve good health. It is important to recognize the impact that social determinants have on the health outcomes of specific populations. The U.S. government’s Healthy People program strives to improve the health of all groups.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines a health disparity as “a particular type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic, and/or environmental disadvantage.” Health disparities adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles to health based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.

Over the years, efforts to eliminate disparities and achieve health equity have focused primarily on diseases or illnesses and on healthcare services. However, the absence of disease does not automatically equate to good health.

Powerful, complex relationships exist between health and biology, genetics, and individual behavior, and between health and health services, socioeconomic status, the physical environment, discrimination, racism, literacy levels, and legislative policies. These factors, which influence an individual’s or population’s health, are known as “determinants of health.”

Disparities In Disease Burden Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

Disparities continue to persist in rates of STDs among some racial minority or Hispanic groups when compared with rates among whites. This is also true across a wide variety of other health status indicators, providing evidence that race and Hispanic ethnicity in the United States are population characteristics strongly correlated with other factors affecting overall health statuses, such as income, employment, insurance coverage, and educational attainment. In 2016, the most recent year for which national data on poverty and insurance status are available, the overall proportion of the United States population living in poverty was 12.7% (or 40.6 million), a slight decrease from 2015. Although the overall poverty rate has declined slightly over the last few years, many Americans continue to face challenges overcoming inequalities in economic opportunity; the poverty rate in 2016 for whites was 8.

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