Latino Epidemiological Paradox Essay

It is important to study the experiences that the Latino population go through when navigating the healthcare system because it will help to improve health disparities that exists within the healthcare system. This will eventually lead to create a better environment for non-U.S. born Latinos and U.S. born Latinos

Despite the socioeconomic advantage living in the U.S., Latino infants experience low-birthweights and mortality rates that are generally higher than the national average. Overall, the U.S. Latino population had a low-weight incidence of 6.5% in 2002, while the incidence was 6.9% among non-Latino Whites and 13.4% among African Americans (Michael S. McGlade PhD, Somnath Saha MD, MPH, and Marie E. Dahlstrom MA,

As Americans, we are all equal, right? Well, why are there differences (or disparities) rampant throughout our nation’s health care system. These disparities can sometimes indicate that there is unequal treatment of Americans in our nation. In 2002, The Institute of Medicine (IOM) published the leading report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care. The report proved there is in-fact, racial and ethnic disparities in American health care, and amid the many health care services available. Disparities in health care are of-course, not only prevalent across racial demarcations, but also across one’s sexual orientation, social class, socioeconomic position, sex, and geographic location (U.S.). Medical organizations like the AHRQ and the Health & Human Services Dept. are dedicated to bringing about equal health care to all Americans. These organizations have invested a lot of time and money into studies, making it possible for all Americans to research this issue in greater depth. This report is an attempt to provide some insight on the issue of ethnic/racial inequity in health care treatment in America. First, we’ll look at the stats that prove there are discernible ethnic/racial disparities in our health care system, and then we’ll examine why racial and ethnic disparities may exist and what methods can be employed to solve them.

The health status of Hispanic/Latino minority group is satisfactory in United States. In 2010, the top three diseases that caused death among them were Cancer, Diabetes and Heart attack. It is said that about 1/4th of Hispanic adults do not receive proper health care in US. According to a survey conducted by Wood Johnson Foundation, about

Limited access to health care for Spanish Speaking populations is due to inability to afford services, difficulty with transportation, dissatisfaction with services, language barriers and inability to understand treatment plans. Health indicators of Spanish Speaking populations suggests that health outcomes continue to be behind other population groups, they also remain below goals established by Healthy People 2010 (Butler, Kim-Godwwin, & Fox, 2008). The US Spanish Speaking population represents a particular vulnerable subset of US Hispanics that have lower-income, less education, poor perceived health status and poor access to the health care System (Dubar & Gizlice, 2008).

There are several disparities where health care is deprive between minorities African American, Hispanic and low-income communities. Healthcare quality and access to care are unequal among racial and low-income groups. Black American and Hispanic have face with poor access to health care among any other race, and the low- income family who have been offers low stander of care according to the American Medical Association eventually suffer from” higher mortality rates, higher incidence of major diseases, and lower availability and utilization of medical services” (50-I-95).

In order to address the health needs of Hispanics we need to look at the neighborhoods that they predominantly reside in. The CDC points out that Hispanics are more likely to live in areas that don’t

The Hispanic community is the largest minority in the USA and the fastest growing, It is also one with a high incidence of preventable diseases such as diabetes, periodontitis, colorectal cancer and HIV. Obesity and teenage pregnancy are significantly more prevalent in Hispanic population as well. (Crowie, 1989) Reasons for this discrepancy are many and varied, so different and varied approaches will be needed. Addressing their health care makes good public health and economic sense.

Hispanics Health Promotion The United States, land of the free, has been the melting pot of many cultures. Culture being learned through behaviors, beliefs, and values shared by a group of individuals. Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority population in the United States today. Whether it is behavior such as smoking, food, and family being the central hub of everyday life. The overall health status of the Hispanics in the United States can attributed to lack of preventative care, seeking care of illness on onset, and overall lack of medical treatment.

The health status can be dependent of your race, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, religion and or ethnicity (Kotch, 2013; Robinson et al., 2017). 2.Which racial/ethnic groups are more likely to be affected by health disparities? Why? The Hispanic ethnic group is recognized as one that has a lower infant mortality rate, however has many difficulties in “economic disadvantage”, discrimination and lack of the access to care,

Major disparities continue to exist in spite of America’s “Affordable Care Act”, Although minorities suffer disease five times greater than the rest of the nation, minorities represent the majority of the disparity. Infant Mortality has always been America’s indicator as to the state of the countries health status. America is one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world, However, America ranks number 24th in the world for infant mortality. Puerto Rican and Indian women rank highest among ethnic classes with low infant mortality rates. Some researchers have found lack of prenatal access as the key contributing factor to low mortality and birth weights among these two ethnic classes.

One important health disparity is the lack of prenatal care amongst women in socially disadvantaged populations. These predominately include women of minorities, women who have a low income, and the location these women live in. This health disparity is important to address because research has shown that women who receive prenatal care are more likely to conceive babies of a healthy birth weight and have low infant mortality rates than those women who do not receive this prenatal care ("Putting Women 's Health Disparities on the Map," 2009). Therefore, health disparities amongst women in need of prenatal care have lead to preventable infant mortalities amongst women in vulnerable populations. Three reasons why this health disparity is important to address include the following: health disparities in prenatal care lead to lack of access to prenatal care to women in vulnerable populations, there are increased adverse health outcomes for both the infant and mother, and there are excess medical expenses that could otherwise have been prevented. Because “prematurity is the leading cause of newborn death in the United States” (“Healthy Mothers and Healthy babies,” 2013), finding and developing a solution will be extremely beneficial and needs to begin with addressing prenatal care.

Women and ethnic minorities have been subjected to many inequalities in the health care system. Though there are efforts to “improving” the system, some women are still under represented. These under representations are caused by inadequate ways to receiving health care and restrictions of things such as abortions. According to the chapter “Navigating the Health Care System” in the text book Our Bodies, Ourselves; the author states, “Unfortunately, health care reform includes burdensome restrictions on insurance coverage of abortion care and unacceptable limits on access to coverage for certain immigrant women” (Norsigian, p.653,

The Hispanic community in the largest minority in the USA and the fastest growing, it is also one with a high incidence of preventable diseases such as Diabetes, periodontitis, colorectal cancer and HIV. Obesity and teen age pregnancy are significantly more prevalent in Hispanic/Latino population as well. Rate of vaccination is also below that of the majority of the population. Addressing their health care makes good public health and economic sense.

Being a minority in the United States has and will possibly always been a struggle. With the economy being in shams and minimum wage becoming career, minorities have multiple issues that society is unaware especially in health care. A large percent of minorities are the majority of workers of America, in which requires the most of the health care distribution. But are they receiving the proper access to health care and prescription access based on their ethnicity/race? Discrimination and racism continue to be a part of the unbalancing inequality in society and have adversely affected minority populations, and the health care system in general. Analyzing some of the racial disparities in health care among Americans are modifications in both need and access. Minorities are most likely to need health care but are less likely to receive health care services, including proper drug access.